Posted on 08/10/2007 4:57:23 AM PDT by Abathar
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.
Boston television station WCVB reported Thursday that a couple of Boston 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," Curran said. "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."
Don't know, but I feel a test coming up this weekend to find out :-)
>>”I want to keep my kid safe,” Curran said.<<
Then homeschool them.
They voluntarily throw their kids to the wolves day in and day out, but feeeeeeeel better about it by giving them bullet-proof backpacks?
Instead of trying to think reactively, why don’t they - gosh, I dunno - eliminate the threat?
It sounds so cliche’, but indeed ‘the terrorists have won’ when we start thinking like these idiot Bostonians.
Because they abuse the laptops and the schools can’t keep them running.
I dunno about MA, but in the Peoples' Democracy of MD it is a crime for anyone not in the police to wear one. In the slightly freer Georgian reconquista zone it is still not a crime to own or wear one, although the mayor and city council of Shirleyville (formerly know as Atlanta) have bandied the idea about in the past.
Dunno about books, but about 4 inches of newspaper stopped a 7.62 x39 (and sprinkled instant confetti all over the place)
Treating the result not the cause.
—idiocy—
A two inch phone book, at a range of 6”, stopped a .30-06 fired at the binding within four inches. The damaged portion of the book was uncomfortably warm to the touch for a couple of minutes, and the bullet (FMJ) seriesly deformed.
I’m pretty sure the statute of limitations has run out on that test :)
You can still tell someone's wearing one. One of the many reasons NOT to live in MD. On the other hand my car exterior thermometer read 106 yesterday driving home, so GA has it's problems too.
Umm, last time I checked, Columbine was one of the whitest places on earth, and Eric and Dylan were two of the whitest kids ever.
If I were at the point where I thought my CHILD needed a bullet-proof backpack, I would sure as heck homeschool that kid. As I did.
You should photograph and post the results. I, for one would be interested.
That's interesting.
I read a reference book by an Army officer who did extensive testing on the .30-06 (M1 Garand) and found that it would penetrate 36" (yes, three feet) of solid oak at 200 yards. Oddly, it would only penetrate something like 20" at 100 yards. At that distance, the bullet would curve in the wood rather than penetrating straight. Apparently the bullet's spin hadn't completely stabilized within 100 yards.
I wonder what it is about the paper that slows it down so much quicker?
Saw my first see through pack just yesterday. I thought it was quaint but hadn’t realized the point till now.
Wouldn’t homeschooling be simpler?
the above link has your answer
see post number 38
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