US schools weigh bulletproof uniforms: 'It's no different than a seatbelt in a car'
Children demonstrate how to use bulletproof backpacks as shields in Aurora, Colorado. Photograph: Rick Wilking/Reuters
The pink bulletproof rucksack that 5-year-old Jaliyah wears to school every day reaches almost down to her knees and weighs 3lbs even when empty, but for her Colorado father, the size and solidity are part of the attraction.
"If you put it on her back, it almost covers her whole body," explains Demitric Boykin. "It was a very hard conversation to have but she knows that it's something that will keep her safe."
Lined with ballistic material that can stop a 9mm bullet travelling at 400 metres per second, the backpack is only one of a clutch of new products making their way into US schools in the wake of Newtown school massacre. As gun control legislation grinds to halt in Washington, a growing number of parents and teachers are taking matters into their own hands.
The Denver company that supplied Jaliyah's rucksack, Elite Sterling Security, has sold over 300 in the last two months and received inquiries from some 2,000 families across the US. It is also in discussion with more than a dozen schools in Colorado about equipping them with ballistic safety vests, a scaled-down version of military uniforms designed to hang in classroom cupboards for children to wear in an emergency.
Tensions are understandably high in this part of America. "I live in Aurora and the shooting here really hit home; it was a huge thing," says Boykin. The new mood, however, can be felt far from the scenes of recent gun violence.
Barry Tull, headteacher of Worcester Preparatory School in rural Maryland, has 80 ballistic shields deployed in his classrooms disguised as whiteboards and clipboards. Some teachers use them to assign homework, others lean them up against the wall, but most of Worcester's middle and high-school children know what they are for.
"Our teachers were concerned to begin with about whether they were expected to be first responders, but at least they feel they have something now as opposed to cowering in the corner with their kids," says Tull. "The former secret service trainers we had in showed us how they can deploy them; how to hold them in front of their body defensively or use them offensively where the teacher charges at someone with the shield as cover."
full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/apr/26/us-bulletproof-uniforms-gun-control
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No, let's get bulletproof vests for the kiddos!
Fuck new roofs, it's buckets from now on!!! 
[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]The "investor class," who are good for nothing else.
...after all, you can get killed from a shot to the head.
I know! Let's get our kids Darth Vader outfits they can wear to school.
Sure it might put a crimp in their outdoor activities, but hey, they could sign waivers and go on the playground unprotected... if they want to and their parents agree.
Just think of the benefits: kids wouldn't tease other kids about their outfits. And no one would get bullied because everyone would be protected equally. And, no more flirting behaviors... this could be a real boon, especially when the kids reach middle school and high school.
Not to mention, making all those Darth Vader protective suits for all of our schoolchildren would mean JOBS!!!
The more I think about it, the better the idea seems.
Source: Associated Press
By Amy Forliti, The Associated Press
COLD SPRING, Minn. — A Minnesota school district where two students were killed in a 2003 shooting unveiled a new device Tuesday aimed at adding a last-ditch layer of safety for teachers and students: bulletproof whiteboards.
The Rocori School District has acquired nearly 200 of the whiteboards, made of a material touted by its manufacturer as stronger than that in police-issue bulletproof vests. The 18-by-20-inch whiteboards can be used by teachers for instruction and used as a shield in an emergency.
Police Chief Phil Jones demonstrated the whiteboards Tuesday in a school gym by leveling a karate kick at one, whacking it with a police baton and stabbing it with a knife — all with no apparent effect.
Jones didn't fire his gun at the whiteboard, saying it would have been unsafe and inappropriate at the school. But he said he'd tested it earlier by firing several rounds at it.
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Read more: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/24/17900647-minnesota-school-district-gets-bulletproof-whiteboards
Could you have even imagined this a few decades ago? What have we allowed them to do to us.....and why?
Have you looked at schools recently? They tend to have a lot of glass these days for a nice airy feel.
Short of putting bars on the windows how would you keep a determined attacker out of this building?
