Pretty simple:
2 phonebook's in front 2 phonebook's in back
Attached like a jacket and worn to protect against gunshots. It would be cost effective and could even be made at home with left over phone books from years gone bye! This is a very cheap way of protecting yourself from riots, hostage situations, terrorists etc...
I can't take all the credit, my boyfriend Shane came up with this!-- Ish, Oct 16 2006 What kind of bullets does Shane expect to stop with this? I'm thinking the high velocity kind ain't gonna stop.
(I found an Internet reference to using *wet* phone books, interspersed with plywood, to simulate animal penetration; the bullets mentioned went through the lot.)-- DrCurry, Oct 16 2006 I think you'd need more than two for good coverage like four, they're not that big-- phundug, Oct 16 2006 Not, saved by the Bell then?-- skinflaps, Oct 17 2006 I've seen a .380 stop in a phone book, but it's a caliber I'd not enjoy relying on for defense.
Still, slowed rounds are better than fast rounds (ballistic experts speak up here)-- normzone, Oct 18 2006 Just a quick take on ballistics; the most commonly used military ammunitions are slightly more "humane" that the used to be. They are smaller and rely on tumbling over distance to cause serious damage. The bad news about this "armor" is that if it didn't stop the bullet at all, you may have made the situation far worse. 9mm, 7.62mm and 5.56mm ammunitions most commonly used today have a pretty good chance of leaving the body without causing fatal damage, if you're only talking about one bullet. With this "armor" on, there's an incredible likelihood that the bullet WILL NOT COME OUT THE OTHER SIDE OF THE PERSON. That means, if it didn't stop in the phonebook, that bullet ricochets all over the place in your guts until it decides to stop. And, inevitably, it is going to stop in the least opportune place, where no surgeon or field medic can find it.-- killjoy57us, Feb 28 2007 And presumably, if the bullet does get through, you will find that you have Smith to Zymrsky in your abdominal cavity, as well as the bullet.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Feb 28 2007 random, halfbakery