The Disturbing Reality of Bulletproof Backpacks

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so basically we have two handguns here we have an H&K vp9 which shoots nine mil semi-auto very soon in our industry and then we have a Smith 44 revolver much bigger what this backpack says it's ready to take so we'll find out if it takes it I think it's really sad that a normal backpack or what looks to be a normal backpack is actually military-grade protective equipment you know that's it's really sad in response to the mass shootings happening both inside and outside of school campuses across America we're here in Lowell Massachusetts to meet Joe Kieran he's a CEO and founder of a company called bullet blocker and they manufacture bulletproof backpacks and we're here to find out if this is perpetuating the hysteria around mass shootings or if this is just the reality of life in 2018 Joe nice to meet you Joe yeah thanks for having me today welcome well this is our dealer show room [Music] I could have a three-piece suit and still have a bulletproof vest on right it's not like super heavy or even like bulky feelings this is a we call this a bio vest this is bulletproof notebook a lot of the parents were saying that their kids can't bring backpacks into the school so that's why we came up with some different alternatives so what exactly are these backpacks capable of stopping pretty much all handguns 44 Magnum 357 12-gauge shotgun matías this is phil rifles we don't manufacture this is like play yeah exactly right a lot of parents were concerned about the rifles so they were saying oh can you put a plate in their backpack I said you can't well that did take it up is just so heavy right this is the raw material that's it um so that's and it's that this is it this is all it is that's all it is yeah what five layers yeah 1111 layers Joe Wow that's all it takes that's it that stops the bullets Joe may have been the first to produce bullet proof backpacks but the trend is since gone mainstream and while a student is more likely to face a life-threatening injury from playing sports than die in a school shooting several other companies have popped up over the years selling all-in-one bulletproof backpacks interest in bulletproof backpack spikes after every mass shooting that takes place at a school and the products are now more widely available on the Internet and you can even get them at major retailers like Office Depot does the sale of bulletproof backpacks kind of contribute to the hysteria around school shootings no because it's it's like any other tool when fire extinguishers were invented or smoke detectors were invented back before they were around if a school burned down you know it is horrific the idea of having a bulletproof backpack or a bulletproof insert whatever it is it's just another tool that's great you would combat you know a potential you know horrific incident the thing I'm kind of thinking is like it's it seems a little far-fetched to compare a school shooting - you know faulty wiring it is but but the end results are the same the fire extinguisher could care less about the faulty wiring but there they are just in case so we've seen where the backpacks are made and now we're gonna go meet some of the kids that they were made to protect in the first place so what's it like being in high school and knowing that some of your classmates might have bulletproof backpacks the fact that some people feel compelled to have a bulletproof backpack is not surprising anymore you know maybe somebody would have considered that before people really started talking about gun violence but it's not surprising all right so I actually have someone I want to show them to you guys if your parents came home with one of these right what is your reaction I'm an only child I'm literally all my mom has I think I'd be really really sad because that means that she's extremely worried about my safety yeah yeah and I think it shows that they've given up in some respects that they've just accepted that it's impossible and you normal yeah exactly it's the new normal that at any moment your school could be the one that's in the headlines do you think that the fact that they look so normal runs the risk of like normalizing the violence that surrounds guns and schools and students there's a sunflower on my bag like this is a bulletproof backpack it makes people think it's oh it's cute I'm gonna add that to my bag like no this is not a normal thing that you should have you shouldn't feel this way while you're at school would this give you the peace of mind of think feeling like I'm safe I mean I think they should be available to us I don't think that they would give me a complete peace of mind I wanted to see for myself how these backpacks actually work so we're at on target firearms and range we're owner Joe roofie Onge agreed to help us test out the backpacks with three different guns each one fires a bullet with varying degrees of velocity and force we're using a nine-millimeter and a 44 caliber round and even though the backpack is not rated to withstand it we'll also test an ar-15 which shoots a smaller caliber bullet but at a significantly higher velocity that delivers a much more devastating amount of force we're doing this because the ar-15 and its variants have gained wide media mentioned after deadly incidents like the Sandy Hook and parkland math school shootings the backpacks come with a kevlar insert that is stronger than steel but five to six times lighter and designed to absorb the force of a bully the plastic fibers that make up the layers of the insert are so tightly woven that in order for the material to be penetrated the bullet must be traveling at such high speeds it can literally push the fibers apart the backpack was able to stop the bullets from the nine-millimeter and the 44 caliber as marketed but the kevlar provided almost no stopping power when the high-velocity ar-15 round went right through it so I'm holding one of the 9-millimeter rounds that we fired into the backpack right now and I have like really mixed feelings about this because I understand we want to see if these things work and we had to try it out but there's something profoundly up about shooting a backpack this could happend to a child while they have it on like while they're at school there's just something deeply disturbing about the fact that we just shot a backpack like we shot a backpack even though the vast majority of school shootings involve weapons that these backpacks are ready to stop it's really unlikely that a student will die in a school shooting in the first place today school shootings are less frequent than they were in the early 90s when student deaths were four times higher but you wouldn't know it when bulletproof backpacks are trending as a back-to-school item risk perception consultant David wrote Pete calculated that a student had roughly a one in six hundred and fourteen million chance of dying in his school shooting on any given day since the Columbine massacre in 1999 with such a low risk of dying in a school shooting we asked him how a parent's fear may play into buying one of these products while the fear is motivating parents to want to have some control we're much more afraid of risks we don't have any control we look for ways that give us a feeling of control so putting a bulletproof backpack on your kid which is not gonna protect him and almost everybody knows that feels like you're doing something that's empowerment and that makes it feel less scary is it irresponsible parenting to not buy your child a bulletproof backpack every person's relationship with their own lives and their own kids and their own emotions is up for them to decide and not for me to judge sure if it were me and that's just me I would be worried that the fear message of the bulletproof backpack could do more damage than the backpack could increase their safety you put a kid in a bulletproof backpack what are you saying to him about how safe it is to go to school and that message gets burned into their psyche but does way more damage I would suggest than the likelihood of them being shot how do you respond to the criticism then that this is kind of missing the mark when it comes to the conversations being had around gun control well it's a different thing we're not selling a solution to gun gun violence that's a complete different conversation all we can do is you know take care of the ones that we love and the one that's around us are you aware of any instance when someone had to make use of one of these products yeah we've heard a few of those you know a bunch of those stories but in terms of actually getting shot with a bullet No thank God we have it well I kind of think when you initially think bulletproof backpack it does sound too reactionary and paranoid but then when you think just for a second longer you realize well the schools are dangerous places now and the paths to and from school are also dangerous so maybe it's the right move for me maybe it's the right move for my friends you know I'm glad this was developed I'm glad I hope it will save lives but these backpacks don't need to be developed in other countries you know you don't see other developed nations their students wearing bulletproof backpacks what we're asking is preventing that situation from even happening in the first place that's where you can save the most focus someone has the power to make sure that this bullet is not coming for me it's not coming for my friends it's not coming for my family and they're not doing their jobs you

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Channel: VICE

Views: 1,794,007

Rating: 4.0499339 out of 5

Keywords: documentary, documentaries, docs, interview, culture, lifestyle, world, exclusive, independent, underground, videos, journalism, vice guide, vice.com, vice, vice magazine, vice mag, vice videos, film, short films, movies, mass shootings, america, usa, military grade, kevlar, bulletproof, backpacks, students, feat, hysteria, propaganda, massachusetts, high schoolers, safety, public safety, school shootings, disturbing, office depot, jansport, gun violence, second ammendment, security, mental health, firearms

Id: sA_lVPEpAvQ

Channel Id: undefined

Length: 10min 18sec (618 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 05 2018

Reddit Comments

Almost 57 million students in k-12 in 2018. There has only been about 150 students killed in school (k-12) shootings since columbine. The chances of needing a bulletproof backpack are so astronomically insignificant, but scare tactics work very well I guess.

👍︎︎ 11 👤︎︎ u/Spooky2000 📅︎︎ Oct 14 2018 🗫︎ replies

Is it just me or is Vice really kicking it up a notch lately?

👍︎︎ 11 👤︎︎ u/Karo33 📅︎︎ Oct 14 2018 🗫︎ replies

I mean I’m not that into the tactical scene myself, but what’s so disturbing about a fucking backpack?