Office Depot selling bulletproof backpacks for back-to-school
Well, looks like back-to-school gear just got ramped up another notch.
Office Depot is now selling bulletproof backpacks for students.
The Guard Dog Security ProShield backpack is made of “nylon fabric and soft tactical armor” and has been independently tested by a third-party laboratory “to be impervious to certain gunfire.”
Priced from $174.99 to $199.99, the backpacks are said to weigh only a few ounces more than traditional backpacks.
Guard Dog Security
You can get the pack in black or pink.
The company, CBS News reports, said the packs have Level IIIA protection, which is strong enough to stop a bullet from a .44 magnum handgun. However, the bags will not protect against a high-velocity rifle.
“We’re not saying, ‘Buy a backpack, it’ll solve everything,”’ Guard Dog Security founder Yashi Sheikh told CBS News. “We’re saying this will put you in a better position in the case of a school shooting than someone who doesn’t have a bulletproof backpack.”
There have been at least 57 incidents of gunfire on school grounds in 2019, according to the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund. Those incidents have resulted in 10 deaths and 35 injuries.
CBS reports that some school districts prohibit the bullet-resistant backpacks.
Chris Pastrick is a TribLive digital producer. An Allegheny County native, he began working for the Valley News Dispatch in 1993 and joined the Trib in 1997. He can be reached at cpastrick@triblive.com.
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