testtest

Armored backpack

Anybody seen or better yet, used these ? Kind of a gimmick but at least a cool gimmick, Lol ! :)


And here I thought my "Tactical" backpack and ruck were gimmicky. lol They have many pockets and are covered in Molle webbing.

Armored backpacks probably are handy in combat. I can't imagine much use for them besides that for the average person.
 
That's what I need, a heavier back pack lol. I am sure that it has excellant possibilities but at my age, with two hip replacements and arthritis I my back, think I have to pass.

I would however possibly consider buying something like this for my daughter and son in law who live down by Detroit for thier contingency supplies.
 
Those are some ridiculously priced backpacks

By any backpack you like and put a Tactical Scorpion level IIIA body armor soft plate in it, look on Ebay. They are surprisingly inexpensive. A 10x12 rectangle is $60, buy three and they are only $55 ea.

They are also very effective. I purchased a couple just to see if a panel that cheap was any good.

I fired 1x .22 LR 3x 9mm, 2x .45 ACP, 2x .38 Spec, 2x .357 Mag and 1x 12 gauge buckshot & 1x slug at one panel and it stopped all of the rounds. I was simulating a double tap, got excited with the 9mm. I will say this, the cover material was gone after the .45 ACP, then I was hooting at loose sheets of kevlar held together with binder clips, rather effectively I might add. Contained in a Cordura Nylon backpack that would not be an issue.

A friend tested his much more expensive and better know brand (I can't recall it right now, I'll ask him) IIIA soft armor panel the same way and it stopped all but the 12 gauge slug, which went right through it. We made certain to group rounds in a similar way on both panels. I will say his panels outer cover had to be cut off. Interestingly the kevlar layers inside were all sew together very tightly with maybe a half inch between lines of sticthing.
 
They have been selling them for children for about a decade. Several years ago I noticed all backpacks at the local office Depot were all rated for up to .44 magnum.

I also can tell you they were no where near $400, they were less than $100.
They came on the market after all the big school shootings as a concept for school kids.

I have no clue on quality or effectiveness though .

^ Yup, that was when "backpack armor" or "armored backpacks" *really* came into vogue. Suddenly, every Soccer-Mom and Hockey-Dad was ordering one for their school-age child.

I found it sad in more than one way, but mainly, I was disappointed at those who marketed the item in this manner. Specifically, I was mad that they took advantage of what went on in the world at the time, and also in that it was a cheap psychological trick: that we parents ( my daughter is still in the pre-K-to-12 stage of her life :) ), with this one purchase, could potentially help gain some control over events which we had absolutely no control over.

Why was I so mad?

Because before purchasing one of these for my daughter, I asked myself as well as my daughter a few questions: questions -and answers to- which I think are perhaps best explained in the following article by AT Armor -


That said, if your child attended school, walked/biked/skated there-and-home through, or rode public transportation through riskier areas, a lightweight, flexible Lvl-IIIA panel really may well turn the tide, particularly as the child's book bag is likely to contain at least one textbook or the like, plus, these days, likely also a materials-dense piece of consumer electronics in the form of a laptop, notebook, or tablet. Understand that in these cases, it's less the typically now more well-equipped school/mass-shooter that you're looking to protect your child against, but rather the potential need to survive/prevail through more common street-crimes/interpersonal violence that often has a way of spilling over onto the innocents nearby.

While all of these were among the reasons why I did not invest in backpack armor for my child (and you have to remember, when she said that she was ready to start shooting, I spent over $1K just to update my [our] PPE), my main reason was because when I talked with her, I came to understand how her daily activities in school actually placed her book bag out of her reach at all but a few points through the day.

Instead of making a purchase to make *me* feel better, I invested the time to talk to her about what to do in case there was ever a threat (not just shooter) at school. To learn what her teachers have taught her, and to get "AARs" from her about her performance during such drills. For example, for one drill years ago, her and a classmate were caught-out in the lavatory. Knowing that the hallways would be deserted and the classroom doors locked, they decided that their best-chance option was to shelter-in-place. However, since the lavatory's outer door lacked a lock, my daughter (the taller of the two by a significant margin) sat with her back to the door and used her legs to brace against the opposing stall, and her friend hid in another closed stall, with her feet out-of-sight by standing on top of the toilet seat. Their reasoning was that if the door did not readily open, maybe the threat would just give it a pass - and failing that, should the threat force entry, at least the second child would have a better chance at survival by simply being out of immediate sightlines.

I praised my daughter and her friend for their quick thinking, but also took the time to reassess with my daughter whether if her decision in-particular could have been improved - to remind her of the difference between cover and concealment, and to propose to her perhaps had the threat decided to shoot at the door, that maybe she stood a better chance at survival if her feet were instead used to brace the door, versus her torso.

Instead of buying something for my child to make me feel better, I decided to -hopefully- make HER better.

Sure, if she had access to her bag all day and maybe if she only used electronic texts (and thus wasn't already weighed-down by a math text plus a science text, plus a history text plus The Odyssey), I might weigh this decision a bit differently... But as it stood then and as it stands, now, I am glad that an armor vendor who is as highly regarded as AT Armor came forward to help refocus the conversation.
 
^ Yup, that was when "backpack armor" or "armored backpacks" *really* came into vogue. Suddenly, every Soccer-Mom and Hockey-Dad was ordering one for their school-age child.

I found it sad in more than one way, but mainly, I was disappointed at those who marketed the item in this manner. Specifically, I was mad that they took advantage of what went on in the world at the time, and also in that it was a cheap psychological trick: that we parents ( my daughter is still in the pre-K-to-12 stage of her life :) ), with this one purchase, could potentially help gain some control over events which we had absolutely no control over.

Why was I so mad?

Because before purchasing one of these for my daughter, I asked myself as well as my daughter a few questions: questions -and answers to- which I think are perhaps best explained in the following article by AT Armor -


That said, if your child attended school, walked/biked/skated there-and-home through, or rode public transportation through riskier areas, a lightweight, flexible Lvl-IIIA panel really may well turn the tide, particularly as the child's book bag is likely to contain at least one textbook or the like, plus, these days, likely also a materials-dense piece of consumer electronics in the form of a laptop, notebook, or tablet. Understand that in these cases, it's less the typically now more well-equipped school/mass-shooter that you're looking to protect your child against, but rather the potential need to survive/prevail through more common street-crimes/interpersonal violence that often has a way of spilling over onto the innocents nearby.

While all of these were among the reasons why I did not invest in backpack armor for my child (and you have to remember, when she said that she was ready to start shooting, I spent over $1K just to update my [our] PPE), my main reason was because when I talked with her, I came to understand how her daily activities in school actually placed her book bag out of her reach at all but a few points through the day.

Instead of making a purchase to make *me* feel better, I invested the time to talk to her about what to do in case there was ever a threat (not just shooter) at school. To learn what her teachers have taught her, and to get "AARs" from her about her performance during such drills. For example, for one drill years ago, her and a classmate were caught-out in the lavatory. Knowing that the hallways would be deserted and the classroom doors locked, they decided that their best-chance option was to shelter-in-place. However, since the lavatory's outer door lacked a lock, my daughter (the taller of the two by a significant margin) sat with her back to the door and used her legs to brace against the opposing stall, and her friend hid in another closed stall, with her feet out-of-sight by standing on top of the toilet seat. Their reasoning was that if the door did not readily open, maybe the threat would just give it a pass - and failing that, should the threat force entry, at least the second child would have a better chance at survival by simply being out of immediate sightlines.

I praised my daughter and her friend for their quick thinking, but also took the time to reassess with my daughter whether if her decision in-particular could have been improved - to remind her of the difference between cover and concealment, and to propose to her perhaps had the threat decided to shoot at the door, that maybe she stood a better chance at survival if her feet were instead used to brace the door, versus her torso.

Instead of buying something for my child to make me feel better, I decided to -hopefully- make HER better.

Sure, if she had access to her bag all day and maybe if she only used electronic texts (and thus wasn't already weighed-down by a math text plus a science text, plus a history text plus The Odyssey), I might weigh this decision a bit differently... But as it stood then and as it stands, now, I am glad that an armor vendor who is as highly regarded as AT Armor came forward to help refocus the conversation.
As always a "novel" approach on your thoughts! You can never have enough good information! Yes it is sad for even needing 1 for a child! Target marketing during terrible events sets my hair on fire as some would say. Taking advantage of children in this way is pathetic 100%! At my kids school certain teachers have access to firearms in their classroom. In my small community I don't trust any of the school employees with a gun at all. I've seen the way some of them handle a gun very inefficient/unsafe! Make me want too send a gun with them to school since I know they handle a gun well. I know that them having a gun in school will throw up flags, but I know they will be safer!
 
^ Hopefully, the ones who are yahoos got weeded-out or re-educated during training - if there is required training for such, that is.

It's always a hard balance to strike. And you're right, for some children, I'd actually trust their decision-making capabilities more than the adults who are supposedly responsible for them.

Of the teachers I know of who have come through our area's FASTER program (https://fastersaveslives.org), I absolutely would trust every one of them with my child. The now not insignificant number of them whom I've shot and trained with have always impressed me with their "wholistic" approach to school safety, which is also foundational to the FASTER curriculum.
 
Back
Top