Gretna business making device that may help save lives during school shootings

GRETNA, Neb. (WOWT) – Extreme Iron Works is a family-run business in Gretna.

Since 2016, owner Dave Cotton and his sons have been making office signs and custom concrete embeds for businesses in the Omaha area.

More recently, they’ve started producing a door locking device called the Bulldog kick lock, which they say can add extra safety for schools in the event of a shooting.

Dave said it’s made for inward-swinging commercial doors, keeping them from opening when engaged.

You can think of it as an extra lock.

“If a shooter comes in and he aims the gun right at the door handle and blows off the door handle, but the door still won’t be able to open because the second locking device is making sure that it’s locked in,” Kevin Cotton said.

Dave said he began thinking about making such a device after hearing about the Parkland, Florida school shooting in 2018.

“A school is no place to go and worry about somebody coming in and disrupting it and hurting you,” he said.

It took him a year to get a prototype that he liked.

He said it’s now patented and it’s caught Rep. Don Bacon’s attention.

“At Uvalde, the shooter was going classroom to classroom and targeting children in those classrooms,” Bacon said. “They did have a security person there, but he did not engage.

“I’m a big believer in having security folks at schools, but it’s not foolproof by itself,” Bacon said. “I think you need multiple layers of protection.”

He believes this is one layer that would not make schools less welcoming.

“We know we have to harden our schools, but we do not want it to look like Fort Knox.”

Bacon said he’s going to be connecting the Cottons to the Nebraska Department of Education and school superintendents.

Dave said the kick lock works for more than schools. It can fit inward-swinging doors at hospitals and other commercial buildings.

He’s also working on a similar device for outward-swinging doors.

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