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August 22, 2007
Bulletproof Backpack — 'Affordable self-defense bookbag'
The only surprise is that it's taken this long.
Here's Alan Gathright's story from yesterday's Rocky Mountain News about the latest wrinkle in schoolyard self-defense.
- Shots, hot sales greet bulletproof kids' backpack
Two fathers' creation of a bulletproof backpack to protect their children from school shootings is drawing flak — and brisk Internet sales.
Massachusetts creator Joe Curran said he developed the $175 My Child's Pack to give a "proactive defense" to his kids.
"We started getting fed up with seeing all the school shootings out there," he said.
Curran said he and another dad hit on the idea of installing a lightweight bulletproof panel in the backpack padding because many kids carry their packs throughout the day.
When the dads launched online sales Aug. 10, a surge of hits crashed mychildspack.com, Curran said. He couldn't say how many backpacks have been sold, but said they're currently back-ordered.
The backpack is taking some flak, though. An online poll on Denver's KOA-AM radio Monday showed 77 percent of listeners wouldn't buy the backpack.
Curran said the product has become a pawn in the emotional gun-control debate.
"The way I look at it, this backpack is nothing different than a fire extinguisher or a smoke detector. It's a tool to have in case something happens," he said.
Note: contrary to the article above, a visit to the website shows the backpacks are now in stock and ready to ship.
Available in two styles and a variety of colors (above and below).
$175.
August 22, 2007 at 12:01 PM | Permalink
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Comments
"to protect their children" - yeah - with a price tag that high it's more likely "To jump on a profit while you can".
Posted by: Skipweasel | Aug 27, 2007 4:16:23 PM
clifyt, I would never encourage the excessive consumption of alkyhol (I myself don't on account of I can't because of a heart thing, except for my bi-monthly gin lemonade with exactly 1/4 oz. of Tanqueray in it that I sneak in), but I have to say that I do get an extra charge out of your occasional well-lubricated ripsnortin discourses.
Posted by: Flautist | Aug 25, 2007 1:12:36 AM
You know Daniel, its because we've become a nation of pussies. And I say this as a liberal elite academic inebriated snob.
I use to get my ass kicked on a regular basis as a kid. And then I learned to protect myself and others. I'm a pacifist by both personal belief, and spiritual upbringing. I will not own a gun. Yet, I've successfully fought my way against two people with guns (I did security work in college...I wasn't just being an idiot...the last time was supposed to be in a nursing home where I was just watching the front door after hours and getting paid to study / sleep).
What is strange is that all the people screaming about saving the kids, and protecting our borders and taking away liberties in the name of security are all the same people that were jocks in high school and now right wing idiots. WTF happened??? When did the nerds become the folks willing to take risks, and the rest of the nation become such pussies. Hell, I got shot as a kid...and it wasn't no innercity, no crazy idiots on a school rampage, just a farmer 30 miles south of little rock that didn't like kids cutting across his field and saving a 2 mile walk to school. It was only rock salt, but damn, I can't imagine it would have hurt any less. And guess what? My sis and I *STILL* cut across that hillbillies farm.
I'm just seriously wondering how my once brave nation became a nation of wusses.
Posted by: clifyt | Aug 24, 2007 10:04:21 PM
"We started getting fed up with seeing all the school shootings out there," he said.
Total number of students killed in the Columbine massacre (1999): 12 (plus one teacher, and the suicides of the two perpetrators)
Virginia Tech massacre (2007): 32 dead, plus Cho's suicide
Charles Whitman in the University of Texas clock tower (1966) killed 14 people before the cops got him.
Average number of people who die in motor vehicle accidents in the USA, per year: More than 40,000. More than 10,000 of those are in the 15-24 age group. "Unintentional injuries" of one kind or another carry off more than thirty thousand US children under the age of 15 every year.
But I don't hear anybody campaigning for compulsory inspection of the electrical wiring in all residences or anti-bee suits, despite the fact that these precautions would save orders of magnitude more lives.
Posted by: Daniel Rutter | Aug 24, 2007 6:01:15 PM
I believe the schools here require transparent backpacks. All the ones on their site are fully opaque.
Posted by: Sherri | Aug 22, 2007 7:11:42 PM
