An Oklahoma company has created a bulletproof blanket that children can wear like a backpack to shield themselves in the case of a school shooting.
The Bodyguard Blanket, which costs $1000, is the latest body armour product targeted at school students in the United States, where parents and schools can already buy bulletproof jackets, backpacks, and whiteboards.
Gun-control lobby groups say there were at least 44 school shootings in the US - an average of more than three a month - between December 2012 and February 10, 2014.
The Bodyguard Blanket creates a Roman soldier-type line of protection. its makers say. Photo: Bodyguard Blanket/Facebook
Steve Walker, a father of two, came up with the idea for the blanket after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 and a tornado in Oklahoma last year that killed 24 people, including students at a school that had no tornado shelter.
The pad can also be used to protect children from flying tornado debris and is being billed as a cheaper alternative to building tornado shelters.
Mr Walker, whose day job is as a podiatrist, organised for manufacturing company ProTecht to make the blanket.
"We wanted our children to have a layer of protection immediately," Mr Walker is quoted as saying in a press release about the product.
"They can be stored in the classroom and when seconds count, they can be easily applied," he said
ProTecht managing director Stan Schone told the The Sydney Morning Herald that no schools or organisations had yet purchased the blanket, which has been on the market for 10 days.
"However, we are setting many sales presentations with school districts around the USA which means it is only a matter of time before we have those large sales to report," Mr Schone said.
"One thing that has been a great surprise to us is the number of requests by individuals to purchase the blankets and we have had a constant flow of orders all day today and this is our first day to take individual orders."
According to the makers, the students can put the blankets on their back and line-up in the hallway to "develop a shield like the Romans and Greeks used to lock together".
The blanket is advertised as military-grade and able to provide protection against 90 per cent of the weapons that have been used in school shootings. It is made from high-density ballistic-resistant plastic and has straps which children can clip around them to have "head-to-toe defence".
The developers say the blanket has passed the National Institute of Justice 3A Test, which is used to test body armour for police, and means it can protect people against projectiles including bullets from a 9mm, a 12-gauge buckshot and a .22-calibre gun.
Other "school safety" bulletproof products on the market include panels that can be inserted into backpacks, clipboards that can absorb "multiple magazines of ammunition from handguns or shotguns" and "peel-n-stick door armour".
It is unlikely we will see the market make waves in Australia any time soon.
"NSW government schools are overwhelmingly safe places," a NSW Department of Education and Training spokesman said.
"The department is not in a position to speculate about the use of bulletproof blankets for students."
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/bodyguard-blanket-the-latest-bulletproof-product-to-protect-us-students-during-school-shootings-20140610-zs2wk.html#ixzz34MEBcwOr
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