XPost: alt.security.alarms, alt.home.repair, alt.politics.democrats   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: "@frank.net   
      
   On 5/13/2024 10:14 AM, Bob F wrote:   
   > 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   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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