Sam Lopata is a recent Newtown High School graduate. Inspired by his family of inventors and businessmen, Sam wanted to create a business venture of his own. When he was about 12 or 13, he told his dad he wanted to create a project with him after his first business venture at nine, Cocoyums.

Sam told his father, Larry Lopata, he was interested in environmentally friendly companies and tech. Larry encouraged him to do some research on businesses that share those values. That is when Sam discovered Tarform, hand-built electric motorcycles using partially recycled materials. Sam reached out to the company and was invited to tour the facility and interview some of the people involved.

Larry and Sam both said that the electric motorcycles sounded like Battlestar Galactica. Spencer Topel, an audio engineer, created the sound. The Lopatas met Topel and thus began their friendship.

“At the time, I was really into this video game called Rainbow Six Siege,” Sam explained. It is a tactical shooter game that puts heavy emphasis on environmental destruction and cooperation between players.

“I don’t know why I was thinking it, but I was like … ’Could you create like a sound flashbang grenade?’ So like something that could stop someone,” Sam said.

Larry said, “Why don’t you ask Spencer?”

Sam admitted he was a little embarrassed, so Larry asked for him. Topel said it was, indeed, possible. Topel began asking more questions, or as Larry said, went into “engineer” mode.

Sam and Larry began researching more audio defense-like devices, and discovered LRAD, or long-range acoustic device, used by the military. It is similar to what Sam wanted to create, but it has an undesirable effect: it can make ears bleed.

The Invention

Sam and Larry invented the BZR, an acoustic deterrence technology. The device can come in many sizes, but each size sends out a 100-110 decibel chirp with flashing LED lights meant to break focus and interact with the primal brain.

The device is directional in its form now, but Larry wants to create a ring that can be attached to ceiling tiles for discreet, 360-degree protection. The duo has one patent for the BZR already, and is waiting for three more.

“Sam and I went on a journey and met an audio engineer who was a Cornell graduate, Dartmouth audio engineer, did a fellowship at Yale … and [it] led to kind of all in on this new adventure of just, there’s gotta be a better way to protect yourself and your loved ones and your things without hurting people,” Larry said. “There’s this huge gap in home security. ATD and Ring are great, but, at the end of the day, if no one gets there in time, you’re just watching people take your stuff.”

Larry grew up in New York City in the 70s and 80s, so he understands the potential of danger being “around the corner.” Talking about the BZR, Larry said he is not “theoretical” about what this can do on the street, he “know[s]” it.

Sam explained it as an “instant response, non-lethal, acoustic device.” He said it targets the amygdala, or the area of the brain that controls the flight, fight, or freeze response.

Larry said, “We wanted to be surgical … How can we use sound as a defensive technique?”

Topel, Larry, and Sam turned to nature to answer that question. Larry noted that humans’ auditory cortex is there to help determine if a sound is dangerous or not. The device is designed to “automatically defer to danger,” Larry added.

An interesting finding from their experiments is that the sound is cumulative, meaning the brain continues identifying the sound as dangerous. It initiates the primal instincts of human nature.

When showed to police officers, they said that the device “breaks focus,” as mentioned. Scott Warren, a 34-year veteran of Houston Police Department in Texas, wrote a letter of endorsement for the BZR and Non-Lethal Labs, the Lopatas’ business. He wrote that the BZR will help redirect crowd focus for crowd control situations.

The letter said, in part, “The BZR device is particularly well suited for use in public-safety operations, event security, critical infrastructure protection, and emergency-response scenarios where maintaining order while minimizing physical confrontation is a priority.”

Sam and Larry envision the BZR being used in home security — against home invasions and wildlife — as well as personal safety via the handheld version. They also hope it can be used in schools to protect against potential active shooter incidents. Sam’s inspiration for this device is completely personal.

The Inspiration

Sam was attending Head O’Meadow School when 12/14 happened. Deeply impacted by the event, as so many others were, Sam wanted to do something about it, as did his father.

“The United Nations says six out of seven people live in fear and it’s a global health crisis. If this can give it back, if this could give you that peace of mind, if this could give me, as a 10-year-old boy, that feeling of safety that I did not have,” Larry trailed off. Part of Non-Lethal Labs’ mission is to “provide peace of mind for every person in every place.”

Sam was honest, saying that 12/14 was “100% a huge motivator” for him. Sam wants to work towards preventing active shooter situations across the nation — and not just in schools.

“No one should have to tell their kids about something like this,” Larry said. Sam added that it is interesting hearing a parent’s perspective because when he was young, he did not understand the event. After growing up, he learned what happened and how jarring it was.

“[I] just hope to make my peers feel better,” Sam said. He painted the picture of what being in school is like: there are the people who are goofing around and laughing and joking, as kids are meant to do. But underneath the laughs and the smiles are feelings of fear and panic. Many kids are left wondering if they are truly safe.

“You realize all these people that are just joking all the time, either consciously or subconsciously, they’re freaking out. They’re worried. And I’m like, ‘Wow. These are people that I’ve never heard be serious in their entire life,’” Sam shared.

Larry was also deeply impacted by 12/14, hence his full support for his son and the BZR. He thinks that not enough has been done to prevent school shootings, and hopes to make a real difference providing instant response defense technology.

Sam wants the BZR to help “for the good of humanity. Just helping people, helping businesses stay safe, helping women, or even men who are by themselves, alone, [they] have an option to defend themselves.”

Non-Lethal Labs is currently open to working with businesses, schools, and individuals in implementing BZR technology. For those who want to learn more about its mission or its products, go to nonlethallabs.com or e-mail Sam or Larry at saml@nonlethallabs.com and larryl@nonlethallabs.com, respectively.

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Reporter Sam Cross can be reached at sam@thebee.com.