Posted on 04/05/2008 9:44:42 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
Youths on Britain's increasingly dangerous streets will soon be able to equip themselves with bulletproof hoodies - fuelling fears of a further increase in lawlessness.
The hoodie can allegedly stop a bullet from a 9mm Magnum handgun and protects the entire upper body.
The £300 top goes on sale later this month.
While the hoodie is being marketed as a sensible precaution, critics will certainly see bulletproof protection as another step up in the spiralling violence among Britain's youngsters - by prompting gangs to arm themselves even more heavily.
Barry Samms, who owns its British manufacturer Bladerunner, said today: "This hoodie stops bullets.
"Last year we launched a knife-resistant hooded top in the UK and it's selling very well. I was taken aback at how well it has sold."
He insisted that buyers of the previous top had not been confined to youths who hang around in the streets.
"We have sold those hoodies to people from every walk of life. We have sold them to NHS staff, teachers, bus drivers, train drivers and we even had a priest call up," Mr Samms said.
"When we launched the hoodies which stop knives we thought our main customers would be young males but it has really been anything but that.
"We have sold them to women who go jogging in the morning or at night and to people who catch the late train home."
The maker says the advantage of the black, machine-washable tops - which look much the same as normal hoodies - is that they do not draw attention to themselves like more conventional forms of body protection.
"I had a mother ring me last week because her son had been robbed three times in Walthamstow and she was worried about him," said Mr Samms.
"She was initially asking about stab-proof vests but I told her that these tend to attract attention. The hoodies don't cause this kind of problem."
Mr Samms, 34, said his company's new bulletproof tops were being aimed mainly at US customers - though enquiries had come from people in Britain as well.
"There are a lot of people concerned about gun crime," he said.
"I don't think it's such a problem in the UK because of the tough licensing laws. But bulletproof clothing is not as ridiculous as it first seems."
“9mm Magnum”?
The super strict gun control laws in Britain must really be working.
Commonly used in Pump-action, semiautic revolvers. A well known terrorist weapon.
Such a cartridge exists, but I’m sure it’s not the one they had in mind.
This is a left over April fools joke. I think there was another thread about it IIRC.
I can understand the concern. After all wearing one of these could be construed as self defense and that isn’t allowed without major legal consequences.
LOL! I'll bet that line immediately caught the eye of every member of the Bang list.
Michael Frazier
I think I’d go with the knife shirt, personally.
What is the name of the company that makes him. I may buy some stock in them.
Sadly with all the shootings going around today, this might be the next hot product.
.38Super???
Good morning.
“The hoodie can allegedly stop a bullet from a 9mm Magnum handgun...”
LOL! I’ll bet that line immediately caught the eye of every member of the Bang list.
Michael Frazier
Yeah, I wonder if that’s due to them switching everything over to metric. After all, the .357 Magnum and the 9mm Parabellum use the same diameter of bullet. So if they’ve switched all their nomenclature to metric...
There’s also a zillion wildcat cartridges that use 9mm diameter bullets so there is almost certainly a couple of them that are called 9mm Magnum, but I doubt they were talking about any of those.
I’ve got a box of 50. The company name is Magnum and the load is too hot for my G26 (according the to recommended load) and I had to mark it for the G19 I have....
Well.
Ain’t I just flat-footed! And here I thought all their smarmy, self-congratulatory “we don’t allow the law abiding to own guns” and “America is just so...so...VIOLENT!” snipping was the TRUTH!
Is this the proof the anti-gun morons are looking for? (don’t look for THIS bit of news to hit the pop media anytime soon.)
That’s what I’m thinking.
WTF is a 9mm Magnum?
Sad thing is our range was contacted by police about a strip club shooting in which a 9mm magnum was used—yes the round exists.
Seems when they scoured the lot they found several casings of various makes and calibers but this was the one one used to shoot the victim—and it was a factory produced 9mm mag case.
Don’t know if this caliber is something more common overseas, but I am just guessing someone was trying to make it sound big and bad—sells more news ya’know.
http://www.securityarms.com/20010315/galleryfiles/1200/1266.htm
But I doubt the authors knew about it. They just had to maximize the hyperbole of the article. Stupid journalists.
By the way, I can’t wait for the new .327 Magnum to be popular. The numbers on it look promising.
the SP101 chanbered for that looks almost - well, tiny... and it can handle all the other 32 carts out there.
Birthday comeing up..... another new Ak or SP101.... so many choices.
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