The bulletproof hoodie that has so many in the British press up in arms today is more than likely a cynical fraud by a company that obvious knows how to play up the easily excitable U.K. press, but who doesn't have much of a chance of following through with a product that can do what they claim.
According to the company's web site:
Bladerunner have now created " The Defender Hoodie " which is BULLET PROOF throughout the main body area.
This Hoodie is rugged and tough just like a normal Hoodie but this one has a removable Inner Shell that gives you Balistic Security at Level NIJ STD 0101.04
Number 1: Never trust your "Balistic Security" to a bunch of over-zealous fashion designers that can't spell "ballistic."
Number 2: There is no such thing as "bullet proof," just bullet resistant, a fact that any responsible armor designer will tell you that Bladerunner blows right past in a bit of self-promoting puffery.
Number 3: NIJ STD 0101.04 is not an armor level. It is a testing specification published by the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice to determine the classes or types of armor protection.
Type I body armor--which I suspect the "bulletproof hoodie" will be if it meets any NIJ standards at all--will only stop low-velocity ammunition, and is generally regarded as being obsolete for all practice purposes. Types IIA, II, and IIIA provides increasing resistance to penetration from handgun bullets.
Types III and IV are designed to protect against rifle rounds.
Of course, if the edgy fashion designers at Bladerunner want to put their products up for real-world testing, I can easily find some police officers and civilian shooting instructors here in the United States that would enjoy helping test these claims with common .22LR, 9mm, .38 Special, 40 S&W, .45ACP and .357 Magnum ammunition.
My email address is in the right column of this page under "email me." I look forward to hearing from you.
Via Ace, who isn't buying this, either.
Cross-posted at Confederate Yankee.
—Bob Owens is an investigative blogger who writes at Confederate Yankee.
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Of course, if the edgy
April 4, 2008 - 17:15 ET by Dan The Man 2Of course, if the edgy fashion designers at Bladerunner want to put their products up for real-world testing, I can easily find some police officers and civilian shooting instructors here in the United States that would enjoy helping test these claims with common .22LR, 9mm, .38 Special, 40 S&W, .45ACP and .357 Magnum ammunition.
Do the bodies have to be inhabiting the hoodies? You know a real world event?
Nuke em til they glow then shoot em in the dark.
Old truisms I have
April 4, 2008 - 17:22 ET by BDOld truisms I have learned.
Murphy's laws of combat
April 4, 2008 - 18:01 ET by ArcherBOf course, don't forget that:
And there are many other Murphy's laws of combat!
"To send men to the firing squad, judicial proof is unnecessary." Ernesto "Che" Guevara
Bullet proof Boys in da hood?
April 4, 2008 - 17:48 ET by CobraManWhy would people in UK be "up in arms" about body armor? Isn't the UK a gun-free zone? If so, what's to get upset about?
If by "gun-free zone" you
April 4, 2008 - 17:57 ET by Jack BauerIf by "gun-free zone" you mean the only people who don't have guns are law abiding citizens and the police, then yes you are correct.
The criminals are, of course, armed to the teeth. Despite it being "illegal" to own a gun for the basic human right of protection in the UK
Hang on to that 2nd Amendment guys.
Gun-free Hypocrites
April 4, 2008 - 20:03 ET by CobraManAccording to the liberals, like most of the brits, gun-free zones make us all safe and happy. Why cry over someone wearing bulletproof clothing if we're all safe and happy? Perhaps they don't believe their own hype?
Personally, I believe that an armed society is a polite society. History tends to support that belief.
This could be really bad...
April 4, 2008 - 17:52 ET by Republican_by_DefaultWhat if a bunch of gang thugs believed the hype and bought the
hoodies thinking they'd be bulletproof? They'd go off and commit crimes thinking they couldn't be touched. Then, well... they'd be touched. What a great loss to society. We'd have less stupid thugs in our communities.
(For those of you who missed it... this is sarcastic, or sardonic for those of you who care that there's a difference).
Right on rep. by default,
April 4, 2008 - 19:30 ET by SlicksterRight on rep. by default, besides who would hurt a journo-tard, all want is to spread the new of liberal hope and change.
"The £300 Defender hoodie
April 5, 2008 - 03:41 ET by Zap"The £300 Defender hoodie makes the wearer’s upper body invincible to every
bullet up to a high velocity rifle, its makers claim."
*snort*
And these guys were taken seriously? Shows how on top of "facts" these gun control activists are.
That thing sounds like a mall ninja's dream: http://lonelymachine...
you know if they did make a bulletproof hoodie
April 5, 2008 - 10:39 ET by lunaticcringeradioi'm suprised that the liberals wouldn't want government funding to issue them to all the lower income people more succeptible to urban violence and use it as a ploy to tax the rich and spend it on the poor to the lil degree while rerouting the bulk of the money to other special projects.
you know that's the hitch to all tax & spend liberal policies. the bulk of the taxes that are taken never seem to get to the people who are slated to receive them. some how that money disappears in the bereaucracy like a fart in a hurricane. out of all the taxes we spend on helping the needy, why hasn't any accomplishments been made.
lunaticcringeradio
am i in the minority that i enjoy seeing the media scammed
April 5, 2008 - 10:29 ET by lunaticcringeradioi have despised the media for so long, after working the superior talk radio media, and i can'thelp but relish seeing the msm sources get scammed time and time again and exposing how vulnerable they are to being misled and manipulated. but of course watch the media spin all these examples of how they have been played. they will portay this as that they are only misled by evil conservatives and never liberals who prop them up.
lunaticcringeradio
Sounds like one for Mythbusters!
April 5, 2008 - 12:59 ET by Edward LeeThey love to punch holes in ballistic gel dummies (not to mention urban myths of all sorts).
these are no doubt woven
April 5, 2008 - 13:05 ET by botgby the Elves in Lothlorien.
May the first one go to Bill Belichek?
Wondering
April 6, 2008 - 22:42 ET by doug1950Do these come in your favorite team colors with logos or are you stuck with gray, which everyone with any fashion sense knows is going to show the bullet holes and powder burns.