Body Armor For Kids? Bulletproof Backpack Sales Spike After Sandy Hook Elementary School Shootings

Sales of bulletproof backpacks for schoolchildren-formerly a niche item prior to the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn. last week-are up dramatically.

"We sell 15 to 20 backpacks in a good week," said Elmar Uy, vice president of sales for BulletBlocker, a Massachusetts-based company that usually makes body armor.

"Since the shooting, we've sold 50 to 100 per day," he said. "When word gets out there is an option, not a complete solution, to protect their kids, parents go and seek it."

The same spike in sales is happening at Amendment II, a Utah-based company that makes lightweight body armor for the armed forces and police.

"We would sell a few here and there, and it was very much a niche item. But following Friday, our sales have gone up over 500 percent in children's armor products," said president Derek Williams.

"There is only so much you can do," Williams said. "The bottom line is, having some armor is better than none. I don't want my kids to be unprotected in schools, which are becoming increasingly violent."

Bulletproof backpacks usually cost between $200 and $500. They have an added layer of bullet-resistant material lining the fabric, which adds less than a pound of weight.

Of course, backpacks don't cover all vital areas. A child could conceivably put the backpack between themself and a shooter, or the backpack could offer some additional protection while running away.

But even real body armor doesn't eliminate the impact of a bullet. Full-grown adults are often knocked to the ground or have the wind knocked out of them when a bullet hits their armor. A backpack might offer some protection against a stray bullet, but it's hard to imagine how a child wouldn't be incapacitated when targeted by a shooter.

"Despite our intuition at times like these, schools remain one of the safest places for children in America," said Eric Rossen, a clinical psychologist and administrator at the National Association of School Psychologists, who says bulletproof backpacks only add to a child's sense that they are in danger, alienating them from their peers. "So statistically, the psychological costs outweigh any potential benefit."