On a typical day in the U.S., 7 American children are shot dead. A deadly recent high school shooting in Florida brought the gun control debate to a boil.
In a post-tragedy speech to the NRA, U.S. President Trump mused, “Vans and trucks are now the new form of death for the maniac terrorists. So, let’s ban immediately, all trucks, all vans, maybe all cars. Your Second Amendment rights are under siege, but they will never, ever be under siege as long as I’m your president.”
Guns are to America – as mustard is to hotdogs.
They go together.
That’s the way God wants it.
This sobering reality confirms the on-going need for Patriot One’s (PAT.V) weapon’s detection technology “designed for cost-effective deployment in weapon-restricted buildings and facilities.”
We have been tracking PAT for 18 months:
- December 20, 2016 PAT signs on Homeland Security Boss
- February 22, 2017 PAT expands its proprietary database of weapons “signatures”
- March 15, 2017 PAT signs a deal with University of North Dakota for a pilot study
On March 28, 2018 PAT informed shareholders that it has “advanced to Stage-3 active testing and research of the PATSCAN CMR concealed weapons detection solution in real world environments.”
Patriot One intends to have five client locations where engineers will be able to “test and conduct further research on the radar device and software solution.”
As well as the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, the next four new locations are 1. a U.S high school, 2. a mid-west U.S. university, 3. a UK business location and 5. a law enforcement establishment in Canada.
Each location offers a unique environment to support advanced testing.
In the same update, PAT announced that several key members of Patriot One’s team will visit Congressional offices in Washington D.C.
There are 535 member of Congress. It probably wasn’t too difficult to find the sympathetic ears, since two gun control groups bought a $230,000 New York Times ad publishing the names and telephone numbers of 276 members of Congress who “took NRA money and now refuse to take action to pass gun safety legislation.”
The Patriot One team asked Congressional staff members to ensure that existing and prospective “safe-school” legislation remain open to all forms of weapons detection technology.”
On April 26, Pat CEO, Martin Cronin published a blog post about the visit to Washington.
“Last week, the Patriot One team visited both the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. Government in Washington D.C.,” wrote Cronin, “to share information on our PATSCAN CMR concealed weapon detection radar device and software solution.”
According to Cronin, “all individuals we met with appreciated the PATSCAN CMR technology, and the ability to integrate with existing security systems. They are all eager to learn more as we move to full commercial launch of the PATSCAN CMR.”
Washington Highlights:
Office of U.S. Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND): Met with U.S. Senator Heitkamp’s chief counsel to discuss the technology and testing sites at the University of North Dakota.
Office of U.S. Representative Brian Mast (R-FL): Met with U.S. Representative Mast’s staff to discuss the ongoing efforts with Westgate Resorts and a Florida county school system pilot test.
Office of U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL): Spoke with U.S. Senator Nelson’s general counsel to discuss the recently passed Stop School Violence Act and technologies that can help keep schools safe.
Office of U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL): Spoke with U.S. Representative Wasserman-Schultz’s senior staff about how the PATSCAN CMR technology works and the Florida collaboration with Westgate Resorts and a Florida county school district that is on target for a pilot test starting in Q2, 2018
Office of U.S. Representative John Rutherford (R-FL): Met with Representative Rutherford’s staff to share more about the Patriot One system, and deployment plans for development sites in Florida. The Representative’s team asked to be updated on the system progress.
Department of Justice’s Community Oriented Policing Services: Patriot One met with DOJ’s Community Oriented Policing Service (COPS) program officials to discuss the plans to award school safety grants.
Governor Tom Ridge & Ridge Global: Patriot One continues to rely on the guidance and counsel of former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge, and his consulting firm Ridge Global.
It’s not clear why the launch of PAT’s commercial technology requires political capital – but it might – so we think the trip to Washington is a smart move.
In our first PAT article, we wrote, “The elevator pitch is that this box can be installed in airports, subways, stadiums, and schools, on a street corner, or virtually anywhere crowds of people might need protecting, without giving itself away or inconveniencing people as happens at an airport security lineup.”
“Our motto is also our goal,” stated Patriot One CEO Martin Cronin, “We aim to deter, detect and defend against random acts of senseless violence in our schools, offices, shopping centres, transit stops, theatres, nightclubs and anywhere else innocent people work, live, and play.”
In the last 18 months, the business and public-safety case for PAT’s weapons-detection technology got stronger.
Some U.S. politicians are starting to figure that out.
Full Disclosure: Patriot One is an Equity Guru marketing client, and we own stock.