A Company Is Selling Bulletproof Blankets for School Kids

By Madeleine Davies  |  June 10, 2014 | 5:50pm
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Protection company ProTecht has found one way to profit off the several mass shootings that’ve occurred over the past two decades. The U.S.-based company is now marketing a bulletproof blanket to schools as a way to protect students from gunfire. (In other news: America is terrible.)

Called the “Bodyguard Blanket,” the bulletproof pad was originally conceptualized by a podiatrist named Steve Walker following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting and the devastating tornado that hit the town of Moore, Oklahoma (Walker’s home state) in 2013 and claimed the lives of 24 people.

After coming up with an idea for a blanket that would help protect a child from falling debris or bullets, Walker teamed up with inventor Stan Schone to develop a 5/16-inch pad (easily strapped on a child’s back) out of U.S. military grade materials that guard against blunt-force trauma.

Initially, Walker and Schone were more interested in offering a cheaper option to schools that do not have adequate tornado shelters (the blankets are $1K a pop, so “cheaper” is relative here), but now that they’ve partnered with ProTecht, the focus has shifted to school shootings.

It’s entirely understandable that a parent would want to protect their children from tornadoes and mass violence, but there are better ways to do that than by buying a $1,000 Bodyguard Blanket. Instead, let’s increase school budgets so administrations can afford adequate natural disaster shelter for their students and ban all guns. Treat the disease, not the symptom, yo.

Image via Facebook.

 
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