Bulletproof backpacks are reportedly rising in popularity as shootings increase across the nation and in the wake of two weekend massacres that left more than 30 people dead.
More companies are offering bulletproof backpacks for students as they gear up to go back to school as a means of protection if a potential threat were to enter their classroom, The New York Times reports.
The shields, which can cost up to $200, started becoming more in-demand after the Parkland, Fla., school shooting in 2018. After the El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, shootings over the weekend, the products are back in the spotlight — especially as many students are days and weeks away from the new school year.
J.T. Lewis, a 19-year-old student at the University of Connecticut and the brother of one of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims, carried an armored backpack on campus to make him feel safer, the Times reports.
“I don’t know if it’s going to have any effect,” Lewis, who’s running for a seat in the Connecticut State Senate, told the Times. “But it might if I get shot from behind.”