When you get your child’s school supply list from their school, it has the usual items: pens, pencils, crayons, colored pencils, calculator, etc. However, what about a bulletproof blanket?
ProTecht, L.L.C, has developed a bodyguard blanket that they purport is ?designed to be bullet resistant.? They claim that the blanket is made from the same materials the military uses for soldiers and protects against ?90% of all weapons that have been used in school shootings in the United States.? The website states the material catches and deforms a bullet which absorbs energy.
??its incredibly strong materials ?catch? and deform the bullet. This deformation of the bullet occurs within the layers of the blanket, and allows a high degree of energy absorption.?
Although they push the school shooting angle for advertisement, the Bodyguard Blanket is also advertised to be of use in a tornado.
CNet:
?While the Bodyguard is also built to help protect children from falling debris during natural disasters like tornadoes, most of the marketing around the product concerns the potential for school shootings. It’s the reason the blanket was created in the first place.?
Indeed they do focus on school shootings.
In an advertisement that would elicit fear in any adult with children, they show what should have been a ?just an ordinary day? until now.? They show footage from tornadoes and then remind parents of school shootings. They state standard school precautions ?depend merely on hope.?
However, the Bodyguard blanket will most likely not be a reality for many families and schools even. The price of the Bodyguard blanket is just under $1,000 although CNet reported: ??ProTecht hopes to partner with schools and nonprofits to make it more affordable to buy in bulk.?
Although ProTecht boasts that the “Bodyguard blanket can absorb approximately 490 – 660 joules of energy or 361-486 foot pound force,” there is one catch that reader McAllister Bryant has shared with Liberal America:
“223 ammo [that from an AR-15] delivers between 1500 and 3500 ft/lbs at the muzzle and 900 and 2000 ft/lbs at 100 yards. Any school shooting is going to be 25 yards or less, OR closer to the muzzle force rather than the 100 yd force. To the point, an AR-15 round will blow through that with no problems.”
That’s right. As long as a shooter is using a handgun or other similar weapon, your child is safe. However, we have seen in the very recent past that shooters go in with the mission of hurting and killing as many as possible. So wouldn’t that mean there is a high chance of a shooter using a weapon that the blanket could not?protect your child from?
So what do you think? Will you be going and buying one once they are marketed? To be honest, I could put $1,000 towards homeschooling my child and give him a better education than local schools around my area. Also, we very rarely have tornadoes.
Though I understand it’s not cheap to make such a product, it is upsetting that only privileged students/higher income area schools would have access to this. The rich would be protected, and the poor would be left to fend for themselves and hope for the best. Not to mention, it doesn’t prevent school shootings. It only protects in the case of one.
Let us know your thoughts about this product on the Liberal America Facebook page!
Check out this video below of the ProTecht advertisement below!
h/t to CNet
Liz Lee considers herself a modern woman of the South and hails from the swamps of South Georgia. She votes along no party line and prefers to look at issues from all angles before taking a stance. She takes particular interest in healthcare issues, mental health issues, and the battle for equality. She is also an emphatic advocate for the end to dog breed discrimination legislation. She is a wife, mother of one human child, mother to one furry American Bully, a college student, and also your typical everyday Wonder Woman. She is also considered a tool of the devil for writing for liberals, and she’s okay with that. When she hangs up her cape, you can find her curled up in her office sewing, writing, playing World of Warcraft, or practicing banjo. You can follow her on Facebook to see what issue she is tackling.
