XPost: alt.security.alarms, alt.home.repair, alt.politics.democrats   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: yourdime@outlook.com   
      
   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   
   the have-nots, and the red versus the blue,” Vranicar said. “And the   
   division is getting bigger and bigger and more and more polarized. And   
   it’s got both sides freaking out. It’s made everybody on edge.   
      
   “A reason I believe we have such an uptick in business is America is   
   becoming more like the rest of the world,” he said. “Just because you live   
   in America, you’re not necessarily safe anymore. It was the case for a   
   very long time, but not so much anymore.”   
      
   Conversation   
      
   engineer-24-7-365   
   2 hours ago   
      
   Very expensive alternative to being armed.   
      
   ...and anyone who can afford these can afford to "buy" a permit.   
      
   I'm Your Huckleberry   
   10 hours ago   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)