Protect your kids or protect your own back!

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

The manufacturer's website
http://www.mjsafetysolutions.com/

With the amount of books they're making students carry these days , wouldn't backpacks already be bulletproof?

This has to be a joke right? Who here would buy one of those bags?

you might get an idea here "books of truth"

I agree that a bag full of books would probably stop a bullet. Either way, that's a hefty price for such a bag if you weigh risk vs. cost, although it is more affordable that I would have thought.

From the article:
The fathers researched school shootings from 1900 to this year.

I'd like to see the data they came up with. What are the odds of your child getting shot at school?

Although certainly tragic, I think school shootings overall are quite rare, and children are relatively safe. I cant find any stats, but I would bet sports kills more children at school than bullets.

Here are some stats I found on school shootings. http://youthviolence.edschool.virginia.edu/violence-in-schools/school-shootings.html

Thanks for that, frenchy. I know the MythBusters did a small test of what kind of books and so forth are bulletproof, but I don't remember their specific results.

On another note, it's nice to know that the backpack I lugged around in high school would have made a nice frag shield. I can guarantee that there was at least a 9-inch stack of books in it every single day. It made the P.E. coaches mad because my bag didn't fit into their stupid lockers, so I had to put my bag in the coach's room (which locked).

that bag is too heavy for a child. The kid would break his spine for carrying it.

When I was in school, if you were caught with a book bag, you were a dork. I carried all my books.

Many schools now have rules that once you get to school, the book bag stays in the locker.

Many schools have gotten rid of the lockers.

i would wonder what the legalities are regarding the carrying of a bullet-resistant material? vests are verbotten in most states without a permit...how would a bookbag be any different. not to mention the knee-jerk reaction much of the media would suffer from assuming kids actually started showing up with these bags...cause, ya know, that means theyve got weapons too and mean to do ill to their peers.

I've heard that in a lot of aboriginal culures the carrying of weapons, spears and knives, is perfectly acceptable but carrying sheilds is not. After all spears are used in hunting as well as war and knives and daggers are used in all kinds of activities. But its forbidden to carry a sheild since sheilds are only used in war.

In our society, it seems more acceptable to people's sensibilities for people to carry sheilds or wear armor then to carry a gun. But the logic of the aboriginal laws is still pretty strong. There are still many more legitimate reasons for carrying a weapon in public then a sheild. And carrying a weapon makes more sense then a sheild from a self-defense point of view. A sheild with out a weapon can easily be circumvented.

I don't think giving children sheilds will save any lives. Indeed the weight will slow them down if they ever have to run from a threat.

No offense, but I think they are legal in most states. Maybe you need to move to a free portion of the country.

Agree. Vests have saved more than on 711 clerk. I just checked a couple of major distributors, and they showed no restrictions on buying body armor. I know for a fact that many/most/probably all police supply type stores will sell vests to anyone with the bucks...

A lot? This was most definitely NOT the case with either the Scots or the Norse, the reasons that some hunter/gatherer cultures are not portrayed as having shields include 1)shields can be heavy and 2)they have little use in hunting.
Given the "logic" behind anti-weapons laws (what is a "weapon" but tool that some busy-body doesn't like) this type of protection may be the only legal defense available. ANY defense is better than
none>

I doubt whether the Scots or the Vikings (Norse) could have ever been described collectivily as being aboriginal hunter gatherers. There might still be some primordial hunter/gatherer activity on a Saturday night in todays Glasgow but hunting down hedgehogs and squirrels is the last thing on their minds.

You can call me Norse (VERY loosely), but don't call me a pirate (viking).