Sandy Hook School Shooting Prompts Surge In 'Bulletproof' Backpack Sales (PICTURES)

Sandy Hook School Shooting Prompts Surge In 'Bulletproof' Backpack Sales

The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting has caused a boom in the sales of "bulletproof" backpacks, it has been reported.

Elmar Uy, of Massachusetts-based company BulletBlocker told the New York Daily News parents began snapping up them up on the same day as the massacre.

He said: "Part of my daily activity is to monitor the numbers. I was seeing numbers I'd never seen before and I thought it was a glitch. Our web traffic was 10 times more than normal.

"Then I turned on the TV and there is was."

BulletBlocker is currently offering a $50 discount on its Bulletproof Child Safety Backpack, meaning it is now available for $199.99.

Literature on the site reads:

The escalation of school violence made it a rapidly growing cause for concern. It became clear that we all need to do our part to help make our kids safe. We decided to put our experience with firearms, street violence, protective materials and tactics to good use. This resulted in being able to bring a product to the market that provides good kids an advantage over the increasingly violent and heavily armed society we live in. BulletBlocker is proud to offer a discrete, defensive product at an affordable price.

It adds the following guidance on how to use packs, bags and cases when under threat:

Hold bag between yourself and the shooter using the straps as handles. Use as a shield to provide cover for upper torso and head whenever possible. While taking shelter use bag to protect yourself in the direction of the threat. While running away, hold bag high on your back or in the direction of the threat to protect your head and upper torso (vital organs).

Rich Brand of lightweight armour company Amendment II told Fox News of a similar spike in sales, adding the company began putting sheets of armour in children's backpacks a year ago.

Ken Larson told The Associated Press he had bought an armoured backpack for his one-year-old son, ready for when he starts school (although did not specify the supplier.)

But Anne Marie Albano, a psychiatry director at Columbia University's Clinic for Anxiety and Related Disorders, says sending children to school in bulletproof backpacks is not necessarily a healthy response to the shootings.

She said: "This is not serving to keep children safe. This is serving to increase their fear and their suspicion of their peers."

On Friday in one of America's worst school shootings, gunman Adam Lanza killed 20 children, all first graders aged six or seven, who were shot up to 11 times each.

He also killed six women, including school head Dawn Hochsprung, before turning the gun on himself. His mother Nancy was also found shot dead at their home in the town.

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