Ryan Wilcox, a Utah legislator, was eager to see if a polyester-based film, thinner than a credit card and applied to glass windows and doors might answer a desperate nationwide query: How can schools stop attackers from shooting their way in? Window-film dealers claim their product is the answer. In a test firing,
Wilcox and other high-ranking officials watched the bullet strike the film-coated glass. “It just went right through,” he said. “It failed right in front of the whole group.” The largest U.S. manufacturers of window film, including 3M, say it can’t stop bullets or intruders. That hasn’t stopped window-film dealers from cashing in on false or exaggerated claims of ballistic protection. reports the Wall Street Journal. More than $100 million has been spent for the purchase and installation of window film at school districts nationwide. The film is attractive to school officials because it costs a small fraction bulletproof glass.
New mandates in Utah and Texas require public schools to install window-security measures, either window film or bulletproof glass. Tennessee now requires the application of window film at new or remodeled schools. The requirements have spawned a proliferation of dealers in the high-profit window-film business. Some dealers impress school officials with live demonstrations that show the film stopping bullets. Darrell Smith of the International Window Film Association says that is a trick done with low-powered guns or bullets and a thicker, outdated glass most schools don’t have. Dealers deny they make dubious claims, saying they rely on independent testing and explain product limitations to buyers. “It’s the wild, wild West,” Joseph Hendry, a school-safety consultant, said of the window-film industry. He says schools are vulnerable to misleading claims because many school officials "have no security background.” “If there is anything that we can do to keep our students and staff safer, how can we justify not doing it?” said Chris Woods, superintendent of a 5,600-student district in Washington state that installed window film at all 10 campuses for $1.45 million.
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