“Right after the Uvalde shooting, June picked up, and it’s been nonstop,” said Nightlock Director of Sales Cris Ahearn.
This summer has been the busiest on record for Nightlock, a security device provider in mid-Michigan.
“You take a phone call, and you have five emails while you’re on the phone,” Ahearn said. “And it’s been like that. It started in December with Oxford, and it really hasn’t let up since.”
The company makes door barricades that look small and simple with an “L” shaped design, but they are invaluable to help keep kids protected in classrooms if a shooter is in the building.
The idea is that if students are barricaded, potential shooters can’t access them.
The barricades can withstand roughly 1,500 pounds of force and come in two styles. One style is where a barricade slides into slots in the door and the floor, connecting both. Another style is where the barricade slide into a spot in the door frame, connecting the frame to the door.
WATCH “SOLUTIONARIES: SAFER SCHOOLS”
A quarter of Nightlock annual sales were shipped just in June, and the owners believe the tragic shootings in Uvalde and Oxford and school districts wanting to prepare for the upcoming school year contributed to the dramatic increase in sales.
“These four skids sitting here are going to West Virginia, one is going to Dallas, and the other to Pennsylvania,” said Nightlock co-owner Jack Taylor.
Based in Mount Morris, Nightlock is less than an hour away from Oxford High School, which had the devices in place.
“Knowing that our door barricades were on those doors and watching those kids in those classrooms, it just felt good that our door locks were protecting kids,” Taylor said.