Many are concerned about gun violence and mass shootings in America. So, when Roger Clark, executive vice president of business development and co-owner of PS Furniture, was approached to help create a bullet-resistant table, he was convinced it was the right move.
The Mequon-based manufacturer partnered with Amulet Ballistic Barriers to create the Revolution Shield flip-top table, equipped to stop bullets fired from .22 caliber to .44 Magnum handguns with multi-hit, non-ricochet capabilities.
“The initial question was could we technically take (Amulet Ballistic Barriers’) material and put it together (with our table),” Clark said. “The way a ballistic barrier works, it’s more or less like a dimensional blanket. You take any table surface and think, ‘OK, how do you attach this?’”
Another challenge was combining the table and ballistic barrier together in a way that didn’t make the table look unusual.
Table substrates are typically manufactured using materials like plywood or variations of particle board. The Revolution Shield is made with an engineered composite core that combines fiber glass, liquid polyurethane and other materials.
“It’s not anywhere near as solid or heavy as wood, but it’s dimensional. It will support weight and it’s liquid. Because it’s liquid, it allowed us to take the ballistic barrier material and smash it together with our table core while it’s still wet,” Clark said.
The Revolution Shield also features a modesty panel (a piece of material attached to the front of a table or desk to shield a person’s legs and feet from view) that is made completely of ballistic material.
Ballistic barrier technology is transforming each day to protect citizens from sudden and unexpected gun violence. The Revolution Shield looks like any ordinary flip-top table you might find in an office space or classroom, providing a hidden sense of security if an active shooter situation does arise.
Grab and pull the handle located underneath the table’s surface and, in seconds, the table becomes a vertical bullet-resistant surface. Customers can choose from two sizes: 5 feet by 24 inches or 6 feet by 24 inches.
“You go from a person behind this table, to pulling this little handle, and you instantly have a ballistic wall in front of you,” Clark said.
Scottsdale, Arizona-based Amulet Ballistic Barriers handled the testing of the product. The process involved actually firing handguns at the table in a controlled environment.
“Revolution Shield is not rifle rated,” Clark said. “Our thesis was pretty simple and, I think, pretty intuitive. It’s really hard to get into a public or private space with a rifle without getting noticed. But it’s very easy to conceal a handgun. The AR-15 has been used in (many) mass shootings, but more than 80% of active shooter situations – not mass shootings – are handguns.”
According to data provided by Statista, a total of 146 different handguns were used in 98 mass shooting incidents between 1982 and June 2022. That’s out of a total of 129 reported incidents during that time frame.
While PS Furniture does not offer a rifle-rated table at this point in time, Clark said, the company would be open to developing one if it could secure a partner. It’s working on another ballistic product called the Safe Space Security Desk, which is being brought to market by the school safety nonprofit Defend Our Children.
“Nobody in the public sector is communicating with us” Clark said. “It’s really not ideal. Somebody in the public sector ought to be leading, at least with school security.”
The Revolution Shield was not created specifically for schools but rather, for any public or private space that could possibly see handgun violence.
PS Furniture
Mequon
Innovation: The Revolution Shield table
Founders: Roger Clark, executive vice president of business development, and Beth Clark, chief executive officer
Founded: 1919
psfurniture.com
