
ThorShield Energy Weapon Protection Fabric - rolph
http://www.thorshield.com/
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noodlesUK
Two things: I’m sure current body armour is resistant to tasers, as the prongs
need to hit you in order to work, and if your armour is stopping a knife or a
bullet, two measly little pins aren’t gonna make it.

If you want a cheap and trivially accessible alternative to this, a fencing
Lame will fit the bill perfectly. It’s a metal conductor in the shape of a
vest or jacket. Whilst I haven’t ever been tazed wearing one, I imagine it
would handle it just fine.

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steve19
I have fired non-consumer Tasers a number of times (at targets, not a living
things). The thin needles of a Taser are more likely to pentrate armor than a
lage knife. And a knife is more likely than a bullet. Bulletproof vests are
not necessarily knife proof, they capture bullets by binding them and
dissipating energy rather than stopping them dead (that is what ballistic
plates/inserts are for)

That said needle proof vets are common and used by law enforcement.

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floatingatoll
Ironically, their website shows “Not Secure” in my browsers when visited, and
rightly so: insecure HTTP, insecure session cookies, insecure offsite JS. I
hope they can be convinced to improve their electronic weapon defenses to the
same level as their energy weapon defenses.

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mattdeboard
I wonder if taser and other stun-gun manufacturers have a stake in this or
other companies like it. Kick-start their own little arms race by building a
market then double-dealing. Far-fetched?

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colordrops
Not far-fetched. That's how the entire arms industry works.

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daebersold
Props to their QA department.

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cwkoss
Neat! I'd love to see the rise of a high end clothing brand centered on making
clothes with kevlar and other novel materials to create a comfortable washable
clothing with a higher protection factor.

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jameshart
I am at a loss as to what your threat model might be where that makes some
kind of sense.

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cwkoss
If I could pay $400 for bulletproof knifeproof jeans - that are as comfortable
as regular ones, I probably would. It isn't necessarily a rational decision,
but it would offer a small amount of peace of mind plus a cool factor.

Woodworking, gardening, kitchen - several activities would be slightly safer
with some extra stab/slash-protection.

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etrautmann
I don't understand why this is cool or what it would protect you from? A dress
shirt maybe but who's stabbing or shooting legs?

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cwkoss
My threat model is less concerned about intentional violence, and more about
accidental injury. If I can reduce my chance of accidental death by 1% for a
few hundred bucks, that would be cool, if not necessarily economically
rational.

Oh, I want the dress shirt too! Heck, I'd wear a helmet with a HUD if it was
comfortable and socially acceptable.

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dublinben
You're much more likely to be injured by an automobile than a weapon like a
knife or gun.

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cwkoss
I'd also be interested in clothing that could reduce injury in the event of an
automobile attack, but I suspect many of the solutions would be excessively
bulky and thus uncomfortable.

Anticipatory airbags would be really cool if you could get the false positive
rate acceptably low.

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01100011
Interesting. I'm pretty sure people already rolled their own version of this
years ago. One possible countermeasure is simply to lengthen the prongs of the
taser and coat the base of the prong with an insulator. The clothing may still
provide an alternate pathway depending on how well it is in contact with your
skin.

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leecarraher
i bought conductive thread many years ago with the intention of sewing it into
clothing for just this purpose, but then reassessed my general threat
position, and realized i could probably put it to better use as lighting for a
halloween costume.

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Mirioron
You could use it to make gloves that work with touch screens!

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jmpman
FAQ needs to include: Won’t the police just shoot me if their Taser doesn’t
work?

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bitwize
They are marketing this _to_ police.

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imglorp
They are, but you have to wonder how frequent a threat this is. I'm guessing
anyone willing to shoot police is most likely not going to use a taser.

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aqme28
> They are, but you have to wonder how frequent a threat this is

I don't think this kind of response is really that common in the tactical gear
market.

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throwaway010718
This company needs to sponsor the Storm Area 51 event.

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theshadowknows
I...isn’t this sort of focusing on the wrong thing? How many criminals storm
police and military installations armed with stun guns?

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wang_li
Seems odd that their advertising is “with the rise of consumer tasers used for
home defense...” who exactly are their intended customers? Home invaders?

Also is it really smart to take away the police’s nonlethal tools in a
premeditated fashion? Do you think it’s going to help your family’s wrongful
death suit when your body is wrapped up in anti-taser gear?

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mirimir
> who exactly are their intended customers? Home invaders?

Sure. That is, SWAT teams.

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kbenson
In that case, it's probably even a better idea. If the choice is a SWAT
officer being somewhat immune to or being fully affected by a current strong
enough to affect muscles, I would rather they be immune to whatever degree
they can be, just because those muscles are probably in control of an
automatic weapon.

That doesn't really help that the SWAT team probably shouldn't even be there
99% of the time, but I'll still take any small wins that are offered.

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StavrosK
If you need this, can't you just run a layer of tinfoil under your shirt?

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moftz
You would want something thick enough that the barbs don't punch through.
Tinfoil would punch through easily and the barb would just keep going. You
need something thick and conductive.

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coryrc
Shouldn't matter if it punches through so long as it maintains contact, as it
should have significantly lower resistance than your body?

