Anyone have a bulletproof backpack?

A while back I wrote a post about bulletproof backpacks for school kids and wanted to know if you or anyone you know owns one of these. A reporter left a comment on the post saying that she would like to write a story on them, but wanted to speak to someone who actually owns one.

The opinion about these backpacks seemed to be somewhat divided. I said that I would consider one depending on reasonable expectations that my child might encounter school violence. In my area it is relatively low. One reader left a comment saying that I should reconsider my statement that shootings were rare due to a string of 5 shootings during a two-week period. I completely agree that those numbers are scary, but there are 23,000 high schools and 4,200 colleges in the United States, which puts 5 incidents at only 0.018% of total schools. I do consider this rare, but I think the potential threat for school violence is high in any school. In light of the 3rd graders who planned to attack a teacher, it is a disturbing trend.

Other readers commented that they thought parents were stupid for spending the money, which I somewhat disagree with. I’m sure any one of them would gladly spend that money if they thought there was the slightest chance that something would happen to their child. I’d take a bullet for my son without thinking, but if I had something that could do that for me when I’m not around, I would consider that a worthwhile investment. But again, what is a reasonable expectation?

So, if you own one of these bulletproof backpacks, either check out the reporter’s comment on the original post or leave a comment on this post and I will forward your contact information along. (Please just note in your comment that you would like your email address to forwarded along to the reporter.)