In today’s world where active shootings seem to be a common occurrence and violence becoming more prevalent than ever, it has become imperative to invest in high-quality personal protection for you and your family. A great way to go about this is to get a body armor or a ballistic shield. This way, you can be protected from any unwanted and unpredictable harm that may come your way.

As far as body armor is concerned, there are several options available for you. You can opt for ballistic protection, spike or stab protection, or edged blade or slash protection. We use stab and spike as interchangeable terms to refer to sharp objects that might cause threats. However, these two terms are not drastically different.

Spike pertains to objects such as ice picks, needles, long nails, stilettos, and screwdrivers that can pierce or penetrate through the small spaces between the body armor fabric’s threads. Spike protection in body armor is made to resist or stop these sharp objects since they are made of laminated plastic layers which form a solid surface. A spike proof vest usually has Kevlar and possibly chain mail under the plastic laminate that helps absorb an attack’s impact.

Edged blade or slash protection offers protection from attacks that use cutting weapons or tools like swords, axes, knives, broken bottles, and similar types of weapons. This kind of armor varies from bulletproof armor in the way it was made and designed.

Most people think that ballistic shields can stop edged blade attacks when it’s actually the contrary. Edged blade weapon like knives can cut through the vest’s protective fabric rather than getting trapped in the fibers like bullets so there’s a possibility of being injured. Instead of Kevlar, Twaron or other materials typically used in bulletproof vests, materials like chainmail may be applied for stopping edged weapons from cutting protective fibers.

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