Parents across the United States are facing a grim reality: It might make sense to send their kids back to school with bulletproof backpacks.
Amy Evans of TruPrep Emergency Preparedness explained to South Carolina NBC affiliate WRDW that the backpacks have been around for a while, but this use is pretty new.
Evans said, "We do all kinds of emergency preparedness. I mean, we do everything. We have parents coming in to protect their kiddos, not just with backpacks and things, but for social unrest or natural disasters."
Employee Alex Walters explained that some of the new customers are parents and some are not. "Some were parents, others were just concerned citizens," he added. "It was just a wide mix of people. Just the individual panels we don’t have anymore. I have backpacks and everything."
Unfortunately, the backpacks have limitations. "On the inside of this backpack is soft armor. This is going to be a soft armor plate," Evans explained. "They have different ratings as well, so this is going to be a 3A. It is basically going to stop small pistol rounds or something like that. … It is not going to protect from a large rifle."
You can find out more about what other parents are doing in the video.
