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Panic Room

2002-04-08 21:28:58+00 by Dan Lyke 7 comments

An Article in the Chronicle about "Panic Rooms", secure, often well-armed rooms built into the houses of paranoid people. But what caught my eye was the picture which strongly reminded me of Reba McEntire in Tremors... "You broke into the wrong goddamn rec room, didn't you? You bastards!"

Of course I'm sure Meuon is looking at that thinking "you call that an arsenal?"

[ related topics: Quotes Movies Guns ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment made: 2002-04-08 23:06:05+00 by: mkelley [edit history]

Is it me, or does the woman in the chronicle article look like Darva Congar?

meuon does have and arsenal....yep, nothing like going to a LUG meeting and get to geek out on computers and guns.

#Comment made: 2002-04-09 02:14:01+00 by: meuon [edit history]

Geeks with Guns. A natural fit. And Gun Geeks are even better! Was it the pine panelled panic pit, or the perky breasts that made you think of Reba McEntire in Tremors. In the picture I see a 1911 .45, a Stainless Ruger Mini-14 (.223 probably) and a shotgun. They are missing a silenced .22 or .32 cal. and something big enough to punch through armour like a .44mag carbine or a 50 BMG. No Kevlar? Gas Masks?

The panic room is an odd philosophy when it come to home invasion. It assumes you are going to make it to the room un-noticed and hide-out until the cops come. Worst line in a police report "he/she went to get a gun" often followed with "they shot him/her in the back".

It's not possible in a house with kids, especially teenagers but your self defense options should be placed stragically. A .38 in the couch cushions (yes Dan, you sat on one your last visit), and a .45 with a light clipped to the bed frame.

Mace, baseball bats, machette or a concrete block (to demonstrate your karate), are also options. I've chased one intruder out of the Virtual Building with nothing more than a Swiss Army knife and a LOT of attitude.

But a hidden room with hidden doors like: http://www.saferoom.com/hidden.html

might be useful for lots of other reasons. If we ever get to finish upstairs, I figured a hidden room would be a requirement.

#Comment made: 2002-04-09 15:44:01+00 by: Shawn

Ahh... geeks and violent protectionism...

Back when I was hanging with the SCA on a semi-regular basis, I heard some fun stories. The guy robbing the event gate ticket box ("You may really have a gun in that pocket, but you're gonna have to pass by about twenty guys with longbows and a quiver full of arrows on your way out. They don't take to kindly to people making off with their money.") and the would-be car thief (the owner came bellowing, shirtless, out of his house wielding a two-handed broadsword and proceeded to chase him down the street) are my favorites.

But the other point I wanted to bring up is that - according to an interview with a security firm that builds these things - the term "panic room" is a Hollywood creation. In the biz they [apparently] call them "safe rooms".

#Comment made: 2002-04-09 16:29:50+00 by: Dan Lyke

Meuon, it was the combination of the hair, the perky tits, and the wooden gun rack.

And "safe room" to me sounds a little too close to "safe house".

#Comment made: 2002-04-10 13:16:16+00 by: meuon [edit history]

Same concept: Safe Room, Safe House. But I'll bet you the people in the industry that also started calling them Panic Rooms would be smart.

I come up with all kinds of other good reasons to have a hidden or at least not obvious small room in a house. A place to store valuables, important papers, and other things..

#Comment made: 2002-04-10 15:30:55+00 by: Shawn

The ones being built in the real world generally don't appear to be hidden (according to the show I saw). They seem to mostly be converted rooms - bathrooms in some cases - and are fairly obvious.