Mpls. Company Making Hardened School Doors, Windows
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- When a gunman's rampage left 17 dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last February, students flooded into commons and state capitols, angry for something to be done.
Their demands were heard as Minnesota state lawmakers approved $25 million in grants to help bolster school security.
Around that same time, a division of Minneapolis-based Aaron Carlson Company, Safe Schools Safe Kids, was awarded a patent for its bulletproof door and window panel systems.
"It can make schools safer right now," said company president Jason Horner.
He said the company's products have been protecting embassies, banks and airports. Now, the new branch of the company is intended specifically to harden these softer targets.
He says the typical aluminum glass door systems found in many school buildings do nothing to stop attacks.
"They can shoot the glass out of a door, walk right through the door, reach through, unlock the door, giving people on the back side of the door very little time to react," Horner said.
The average school attack lasts about six to eight minutes before police arrive, or the shooter takes their own life. That is why it is so extremely vital to slow the attacker down, giving authorities valuable time to respond. The company's entry, classroom and closet doors are designed to do just that. They are impenetrable to high-powered rounds, which lodge within the glass and wood core.
"What you're looking at is a door that has a core in it that stops the bullet. Glass is layered glass with layers of polycarbonate between it, which basically grabs the bullet and shreds it apart," Horner said.
Locksets and hinges are hardened to bullets as well. However, in the slight chance there's a failure, magnetic backup locks on the inside of the door add yet another layer of safety.
All this security is not going to be cheap, protection has a hefty price.
"We're looking in the range of $10,000 for a level-five door … that will stop an AR-15-type attack," he said.
The Minnesota Department of Education is offering $25 million in school safety grants to help schools defray the cost of the safety improvements. Applications are limited to $500,000 per school site, with half of the total grant money going to school districts outside the metropolitan area.
Applications will be accepted in August, with awards expected to be announced in late September.
