From holsters and firearms to fog machines and lighthouses, foreign companies with products as wide-ranging as their home countries have come to Las Vegas for largest gun show in the world.
The SHOT show has attracted more than fifty companies hailing from Germany, Japan, Belgium, France, New Zealand and beyond; countries like Great Britain and Italy even have designated sections within the massive show.
But they’re not all showing handguns and assault rifles; here are two innovative technologies making an appearance from our neighbors in Canada.
FlashFog
As the saying goes, FlashFog does what it says on the tin. The product unleashes a dense fog worthy of the San Francisco Bay within thirty seconds.
Made by FlashFog Security, the tech is designed to improve security in your business or home by foiling would be burglars with fog. Say a burglar breaks in and triggers your burglar alarm. Before the police arrive, the burglar will still have time to conduct his larcenous business.
With FlashFog, the tripped alarm is a trigger that instantly fills the room with thick white fog, reducing the burglar’s visibility to inches. The fog lingers in the air for 45 minutes, giving the police plenty of time to respond.
A burglar would be blinded not just by the fog -- which is harmless if inhaled and doesn’t leave any residue to clean up -- but also by the gizmo’s bright, flashing strobe light.
“Burglars can’t steal what they can’t see,” the company explains.
It comes in four models with the smallest system, the Tiger 1500, able to fill an 800-square-foot room in under a minute and the largest system, the P-1500, filling a 4,000-square-foot area in under a minute.
All the models include a fog generator, a fluid bag, security strobe and battery back-up.
Adventure Lights
Adventure Lights, Inc. designs tech to do quite the opposite -- its technology ensures you have the visibility to be seen.
The company’s Lighthouse Survival Lights, for example, are designed for military personnel in extreme situations where being seen is urgent.
The Canadian company manufactures durable safety and signaling beacons for positive visual identification in a wide assortment of visual and IR portable lights.
They leverage LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, a solid-state semiconductor diode that emits colored light. Adventure Lights’ Universal Digital Remote Control can control one or more of the lights at a time with a transmitter effective to about a mile.
Positive identification is important for a range of reasons including distinguishing between a friend or a foe.
The company’s products are used by Canadian, American and British militaries as well as by search and rescue teams and law enforcement.
Ballet dancer turned defense specialist Allison Barrie has traveled around the world covering the military, terrorism, weapons advancements and life on the front line. You can reach her at wargames@foxnews.comwargames@foxnews.com or follow her on Twitter @Allison_Barriehttp://www.twitter.com/Allison_Barrie.