Bulletproof Blanket for Your Kids

A father of 2 elementary school students in Oklahoma who was horrified after the Newtown shootings has developed a bullet proof blanket that is designed to fit like a backpack.

At $1,000 a piece it probably wont make it into many schools.

This seems to me like people just trying to profit from all the fear mongering.

If it has come to the point where we have to send our kids to school in what amounts to bullet proof vests then we should not be sending them there at all.

The blanket is intended to be strapped on a child's back like a backpack. When the child crouches in a ball and huddles up next to other children, they form a kind of human shield, like how the "Romans and the Greeks used to lock together," managing partner Stan Schone told KFOR. (The blanket is also being marketed toward schools that might want to protect students from tornado-induced flying debris.)

www.motherjones.com...

a reply to: alienjuggalo

wow those look terrible!!!! The video is full of fear mongering & the woman's voice was picked because the guy doing the ad knows people respond best to calm soothing voices.

What a sad statement of the times we live in.

originally posted by: Margana
What a sad statement of the times we live in.

I agree.

Strangely the violent crime rate has been going down for years in the USA but the media would have us believe that it's going up.

a reply to: alienjuggalo

Bulletproof backpacks for kids have been around since the first shooting. This is just one example.

This almost comes off as joke. Any kid wearing one of those things is going to get routinely beaten by bullies. Let the teachers pack a pistol and this sort of nonsense will decline. Build tornado resistant structures instead of big square stacks of bricks.

people do alot worse to their kids than protecting them with ugly bullet proof stuff.

Id rather them have all this than be filled with 1000 grams of sugar daily.

a reply to: alienjuggalo

Wow, you really know that your society is f'd beyond all redemption when this kinda stuff becomes a viable business/product line.

Would it not be better to work out why some citizens of the USA want to go shoot up the place on a regular basis?

Or just strap some armour on to the kids and roll the dice?

i really don't think the intent is for parents to buy one for their kids, but for parents to harass the schools to provide them for their children.

don't think it would help all that much in a tornado, where it will not protect from things like walls crushing them, or large flying debris. it may offer some protection from small blown debris, but that is it. also it would act as a giant sail, and being attached to the kids may do more harm than good in that case. far better (and probably cheaper) to just build a proper storm cellar under the school.

as for it's ballistic protection, that is all fine and good, yet in it's stated and shown mode of use, again it works against the children. it would protect from shots while they are stationary, yet this just makes them unmoving targets unable to run away easily while maintaining protection. that makes it easy for someone intent on killing to get at them, move them if necessary (like by kicking them aside), completely negating the protection it affords since it is strapped to their backs. that is IF and it is a big if, the children stay unmoving, which as they would be panicking would more than likely mean they would instead run in terror. in which case only their backs would be protected. and as they crash into each other and mill around would again negate most of the protection it would offer. also if the attacker was not armed with a gun but a knife or sword, i would have to think these would just offer a false sense of protection as like a "bullet proof" vest (without ballistic plates) would not be any protection against such bladed weapons.

far better to equip the children with actual bullet proof vests which offer protection from all sides, not just the back. yet even that would be little help in stopping a determined killer. these "blankets" are a giant waste of money as far as i can see.

originally posted by: skalla
a reply to: alienjuggalo

Wow, you really know that your society is f'd beyond all redemption when this kinda stuff becomes a viable business/product line.

I know, right?

Parents are sending children to school in stab-proof uniforms to guard against knife crime, it has emerged.

link

Children as young as 10 have also asked for the body armour, some because they are scared for their lives and others as a badge of honour.

link

Australian parents desperate to protect children from attacks by thugs have begun ordering stab-proof tops from a British clothing firm.

link

"When I was growing up you never heard of anyone carrying a knife and if someone was stabbed it was major news.

"But now even in smaller suburbs and towns you hear about it every week and there's no age restrictions."

originally posted by: skunkape23
This almost comes off as joke. Any kid wearing one of those things is going to get routinely beaten by bullies. Let the teachers pack a pistol and this sort of nonsense will decline. Build tornado resistant structures instead of big square stacks of bricks.

Why am I not surprised this comes from my state? *facepalm*

There is actually a big push statewide to build storm shelters at schools, in light of an F5 tornado which hit Moore, OK last May and destroyed an elementary school, killing seven students.

link

By Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY - An organization that supports building storm shelters in every Oklahoma public school plans to launch a new initiative petition drive to get the measure on the ballot.

Organizers of Take Shelter Oklahoma plan to launch the new petition Wednesday at an event attended by civil rights leader the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

The effort comes a little more than a year after a massive tornado destroyed Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, killing seven students.

The first initiative petition that would have brought a vote to Oklahoma residents was abandoned in April after the state attorney general made significant changes to the ballot title. A legislative effort backed by Gov. Mary Fallin also failed.

The new petition seeks a statewide vote on a $500 million bond issue to fund the shelters.