Kevlar Presidents

[mrsquirrel]

I seem to remember reading years ago that the presidents long coat like that is lined with kevlar to help stop bullets. Do you think the first ladies long coat is as well or is at an urbanmyth?

[DaffyDuck]

First Ladies are expendable. :-)

j/k

Actually, it looks as if her coat is similarly reinforced.

(Google is your friend)

What does it mean that Barack Obama was wearing "bullet-resistant clothing"? - By Juliet Lapidos - Slate Magazine

Does the Kevlar Number Come in a French Cuff?
Obama was wearing "bullet-resistant clothing." What's that?
By Juliet Lapidos
Posted Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009, at 4:52 PM ET

Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president on Tuesday under tight security. He rode to the Capitol in an armored Cadillac limo, spoke behind a protective glass shield, and wore "bullet-resistant clothing." Is that the same thing as a bulletproof vest?

Not quite. The vests familiar from cop shows and news footage of SWAT teams are manufactured to be maximally effective with no consideration for how they might look under a dress shirt. It's unclear what brand of body armor Obama sported at the inauguration, but several companies produce discreet, thinner vests that can be worn underneath clothing, inserted into an outer layer (like a coat) or woven into a shirt. Miguel Caballero, a Colombian company, makes bullet-resistant leather jackets, polo shirts, Windbreakers, and ruffled tuxedo shirts, which range from a few hundred dollars to $7,000 in price. There is a trade-off between efficacy and subtlety since, as a rule, it's more expensive to manufacture thin-but-reliable vests and shirts.

No soft material can provide complete security against all types of bullets or multiple hits in the same place (which is why the term bulletproof is out of vogue), but the National Institute of Justice (the Department of Justice's research agency) has developed standards for determining to what extent a product is "resistant." Type IIA armor, for example, should protect against a 9 mm-caliber, full-metal-jacketed, round-nose bullet traveling at 373 meters per second. Type IIIA (the highest standard for a flexible, as opposed to a hard, material) protects against a 357 SIG flat-nose bullet fired at a velocity of 448 meters per second.

[filch]

^
I think he's going to be needing kevlar everywhere he goes.

I sincerely hope he does do well and things are going to change.

I am not American BTW.