Bullet-Proof Backpacks...?

[molonlabetn]

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/13860078/detail.html

Fathers Create Bulletproof Backpacks

Parents Take Defensive Action

POSTED: 5:59 pm EDT August 9, 2007

UPDATED: 6:24 pm EDT August 9, 2007

BOSTON -- It's time for parents to make the annual trek to get back to school items, which usually includes jeans, jerseys and a few notebooks.

NewsCenter 5's Pam Cross reported Thursday that a couple of North Shore men want parents to consider something else -- a bulletproof backpack.

"They have them with them on the floor, on their laps, on the bus. They always have a backpack," said Joe Curran, of My Child's Pack.

It started with the Columbine shooting in 1999. Curran and Mike Pelonzi said that they watched and worried for their own children. They had the idea to hide bulletproof material inside a backpack. They call it defensive action.

"If the kid has a backpack next to them, or under the desk, they can pick it up, the straps act as a handle and it becomes a shield," Curran said.

It's much lighter than a 15-pound police vest. After three years of experimenting, the backpacks that were tested by an outside lab ranked threat level two. It stops an assortment of bullets, including 9-millimeter hollow point bullets. The fathers researched school shootings from 1900 to this year.

They will sell for $175, but do the special book bags play upon paranoia when most schools are called safe?

"I want to keep my kid safe. I don't care what you do -- if you want to fight the good fight or fix the world's hurts, I can't help you, but my kids are going to be safe because of these backpacks," Curran said.

I know the knee-jerk response might be that this is a panic-driven, unreasonable action... but in all actuality, I think it's a pretty good idea. I don't carry a back-pack, but I certainly would consider buying a BP brief-case, or a rifle-plate for my lap-top bag... And if I had a child, I would want them to have the best means of survival possible while they are too young to carry their own firearm.

Thoughts?

Who all here owns a BP vest, or something else like this? Do you take it with you often enough for it to be useful in an unexpected situation?

I don't, but I'm seeing advantages to that kind of preparation.

[Guest Kingfish]

"but my kids are going to be safe because of these backpacks"

Uh, yea right.

Safer, MAYBE but no one thing is going to make them safe.

<edit> Oh, yea the kids at Columbine used sawed off shotguns. Backpack is not gonna do much good there.

[creeky]

I can't help but think the first people to buy these will be the "thugs".

[Marswolf]

[

Who all here owns a BP vest, or something else like this? Do you take it with you often enough for it to be useful in an unexpected situation?

Not me and except for a few situations I couldn't control, I refuse to wear them. But I would if I was a LEO. When you are the point of the spear in a very public life, you can't control your situation very well.

I'm not sure that the $175 wouldn't be better spent on sending my kid to a school of instruction that would teach them other ways to avoid becoming victims. I really doubt that a Level II bullet resistant backpack would have made a difference in any of the school shootings.

[Punisher84]

I think it's a good idea. Nobody else has any answers and the government won't do anything to protect the kids. I think it's good initiative on their part. Good for them. Not everybody needs a vest day to day, but if someone came up to you and said "Today you will be shot in the chest at 3pm. This vest will stop it if you wear it." You'd probably throw that mother on just in case.

[Guest c.a.s.]

Wierd thing is, I;m gonna end up getting one for christmas.

Though I didn't ask for it, a friend only knows my general nature (AKA my knowledge of arms), so they thought it might be a good idea...

Clinton High School isn't exactly very high on the "shoot out" watch list. They are your standard government-brainwashed sheeple, mostly, with very few exceptions. Most think guns are "cool", but they are really scared of them.

[shaftbass]

[Guest c.a.s.]

I say, when I get it, I take it to a shoot and test it with a 9mm. They do advertise it can stop a 9mm...If not, I can brag I have a bullet hole in my backpack.

[Guest crytes]

The advertise that the backpack contains material that can stop a 9mm but were in the backpack is it you may verywell end up whith a bullet hole in your backpack that just doesn't make it all the way through. And anyway When I was in highscoll I usually had 3 or 4 textbooks in my backpack at any givven time couldn't that stop a 9mm as well? not that many student would have the presents or mind to attemp to sheild themselves whith their backpack should the need arise. Better to educate our children so that they can indentify and differentiate cover and concealment.

Crytes

[Guest c.a.s.]

M point exactly. My english book is about 2 1/2" thick. Add in my Algebra and Geography, and thats a lot of protection. Last year I had a book for every class, and two classes had a couple books....My bag weighed 40 pounds! Needless to say I used a duffel bag. Still do.

[Marswolf]

If you are a gunman, are you going to shoot at someone's backpack? Didn't think so....

[Guest Len]

If it gives people peace-of-mind, then great. But otherwise, I doubt such things would do much good for reasons stated in earlier posts.

It is truly a sad day in our society when we are even THINKING about needing such levels of protection for kids in school...

[Guest ProguninTN]

It seems like a good idea. However, 3 points.

1. See Len's comment above

2. See Kingfish's comment.

3. Headshots

[Guest Phantom6]

Practically speaking, most kids refuse to wear a backpack correctly (straps over both shoulders thus taking advantage of the inherant load bearing capability of the backpack) anyway which of course leaves a portion of the back exposed even with a $175 backpack. I agree with crytes. Educate the kids in the difference between cover and concealment. At the same time they need to understand the levels of awareness, the "360 degree at 21 feet" rule and how to pay attention to that inner voice thet tells them something's just not right.

BTW C.A.S., Clinton High School has been the seen of some terribly violent encounters and "near misses". This goes back at least to the bombing on a Saturday night on 5 October 1958 when the whole school (with the exception of the gymnasium) was completely destroyed by 3 well placed stacks of explosives. Clinton Middle School now stands where the high school once stood. The entire CHS student body, faculty and staff had to be bussed to the old Linden Elementery School in Oak Ridge which was at the time "moth balled" by the Oak Ridge Schoolboard due to the population drop that occurred in Oak Ridge after the war (WWII).

[Marswolf]

Someone would also probably beat you up for your neato $175 backpack.

[Guest Mugster]

Utterly useless, imo.

[Guest c.a.s.]

Practically speaking, most kids refuse to wear a backpack correctly (straps over both shoulders thus taking advantage of the inherant load bearing capability of the backpack) anyway which of course leaves a portion of the back exposed even with a $175 backpack. I agree with crytes. Educate the kids in the difference between cover and concealment. At the same time they need to understand the levels of awareness, the "360 degree at 21 feet" rule and how to pay attention to that inner voice thet tells them something's just not right.

BTW C.A.S., Clinton High School has been the seen of some terribly violent encounters and "near misses". This goes back at least to the bombing on a Saturday night on 5 October 1958 when the whole school (with the exception of the gymnasium) was completely destroyed by 3 well placed stacks of explosives. Clinton Middle School now stands where the high school once stood. The entire CHS student body, faculty and staff had to be bussed to the old Linden Elementery School in Oak Ridge which was at the time "moth balled" by the Oak Ridge Schoolboard due to the population drop that occurred in Oak Ridge after the war (WWII).

I do remember being told multiple stories about the bombings. The vocational ceter actually had a gun taken on property last year. (And I spend the first half of my day there...)

@Marswolf: I always have a small group of friends with me, since at least two are always in my class. And I definitly would't going around saying the price. Most people wouldn't care anyway, they would go beat up the person in my homeroom who brings his iBook to school and take that. BTW, I probably wouldn't use it at school. I got me a new bag, with much more space in it.

+1 for the headshot comment. Cho lined thme up and shot them execution-style. And, off the top of my head, didn't most of the other school shooters?