XPost: alt.security.alarms, alt.home.repair, alt.politics.democrats   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: bobnospam@gmail.com   
      
   On 5/13/2024 1:20 AM, useapen wrote:   
   > New Yorkers are fortifying their homes with panic rooms and bullet-proof   
   > doors like never before over fears about crime, migrants and national   
   > turmoil — and it’s not just the city’s elite partaking in the trend.   
   >   
   > “Not every [customer] is an ultra-rich stockbroker — a lot of them are   
   > just people, middle-class kind of people,” said Steve Humble, founder of   
   > the home-defense contractor Creative Home Engineering.   
   >   
   > “I’d say the pandemic really kicked off an uptick. Business was really   
   > good throughout the pandemic time, and it really hasn’t slowed down,”   
   said   
   > Humble, who specializes in top-of-the-line secret doors disguised as   
   > bookshelves, fireplaces, mirrors, blank walls and whatever else a client   
   > can think of to conceal a safety room behind them.   
   >   
   > He is one of numerous home-defense contractors who told The Post that the   
   > past four years have been a boon for business, with New Yorkers from all   
   > walks of life shelling out thousands of dollars to outfit their homes with   
   > hidden rooms, bulletproof doors and a swath of other covert security   
   > systems to keep the baddies at bay should they come knocking.   
   >   
   > The driving force is a decline in New Yorkers’ sense of safety — assaults   
   > in the Big Apple reached 28,000 for the first time on record last year  —   
   > and the perceptible shift toward volatile instability that many people   
   > feel is ramping up across all of American society, Humble and others say.   
   >   
   > “Whether it’s real or perceived. People feel like crime is up,” Humble   
   > said, explaining he has installed “well over 100” doors in homes across   
   > New York, with middle-class homes in Queens and the Bronx standing out.   
   >   
   > David Vranicar, whose company Fortified and Ballistic Security specializes   
   > in such things as bulletproof doors and windows, said New Yorkers from   
   > less affluent parts of Queens and Brooklyn have been driving his business   
   > in the city, too.   
   >   
   > “Those are the people that actually need to stop bad guys from getting in   
   > the house,” Vranicar said.   
   >   
   > “[What] my clients have been expressing to me is we saw how quickly   
   > society can break down during COVID,” he said. “So, what would happen if   
   > something really drastic happened? I think everybody’s a little scared.”   
   >   
   > While Humble specializes in concealing without-a-trace hidden safe rooms,   
   > Vranicar’s defensive philosophy is focused on keeping the baddies moving   
   > on by fortifying points of entry such as front doors and windows.   
   >   
   > “What we want to do is say, ‘If the riot breaks out, can I be secured?’   
   > And the reality is, even if it’s bad, and they’re banging on your door,   
   > and they can’t get in, and it’s steel all the way around, they’re not   
   > coming in. They’re just not, and they’ll move on,” he explained.   
   >   
   > He said he also focuses on fortifying bedrooms where homeowners are most   
   > likely to be at their most vulnerable — asleep — should trouble make its   
   > way inside.   
   >   
   > While Vranicar and Humble offer high-end custom projects — which can   
   > quickly add up to tens of thousands of dollars and more — both also said   
   > they provide a line of products to fortify or conceal doors on more   
   > conservative budgets.   
   >   
   > Humble’s most affordable hidden door costs about $1,000, and though   
   > Vranicar’s cheapest door starts around $6,000, he pointed out that   
   > installing one such door on an apartment above ground level is going to   
   > make the place as secure as it can be.   
   >   
   > “In New York, if you could afford six-grand for a door, you’re pretty   
   much   
   > gonna be really safe,” Vranicar said.   
   >   
   > Though both have outfitted the homes of celebrities and statesmen alike,   
   > average New Yorkers have helped make the city one of their biggest markets   
   > across the country, they said.   
   >   
   > “There’s a lot of people in New York that are ordering the pre-designed   
   > secret doors from us,” said Humble, noting that New York City is one of   
   > his top three markets.   
   >   
   > For not-so-average New Yorkers, there’s Bill Rigdon of Panic Room Builders   
   > — who caters to clients with homes worth around $10 million at a minimum.   
   >   
   > “The people below that can’t get their head around spending $50,000 for a   
   > door,” Rigdon told The Post.   
   >   
   > Rigdon builds panic rooms averaging between $100,000 and $200,000 — but   
   > can quickly cost well above that. The rooms are equipped with a host of   
   > defensive measures and life support such as food, water, plumbing, medical   
   > equipment, power sources and communication systems.   
   >   
   > Beyond ballistic doors that can stop AK-47 rounds and up, Rigdon’s panic   
   > rooms can have electrified handles, smoke-screen launchers, concealed   
   > nozzles for blasting dyed pepper spray at intruders and remotely   
   > controlled robots or drones armed with shotgun shells.   
   >   
   > As with Humble and Vranicar, the names and addresses of Ridgon’s clients   
   > are all protected by strict non-disclosure agreements, but he said the   
   > city has become “a different ballgame” with “1% of 1% customers” in   
   recent   
   > years.   
   >   
   > “The migrant thing has got people brain-spun because they’re living in   
   > their crystal palace out in the Hamptons and they have to drive through   
   > the city. and they see this,” Rigdon said.   
   >   
   > “In the city right now, it’s is the rampant crime, right? Political   
   > unrest, which you see on the streets. And when these migrants started   
   > going into town, you know, it’s broadcasts all over the news — my phone   
   > blew up.”   
   >   
   > Recent city headlines have been so alarming that Rigdon estimates about   
   > 90% of his Big Apple business right now comes from previous clients who   
   > fear the instability — and potentially more from the upcoming 2024   
   > presidential election.   
   >   
   > “It’s not ‘if,’ it’s ‘when’ it’s coming,’ ” Rigdon said.   
   “I have people I   
   > work with in the agencies in Pittsburgh, and Philly — the FBI, you name it   
   > — and they’re worried. If they’re worried. Why shouldn’t we be   
   worried?”   
   >   
   > Vranicar and Humble said they also have been seeing a similar trend among   
   > clients, many of whom have expressed fears over what has been simmering   
   > across America since 2016 — and may be coming to a head in the fall.   
   >   
   > “There’s a bigger gap between a two sets of people groups: the haves and   
      
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