on May 26, 2013 at 9:00 PM CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Guns weren't the only thing people raced to buy after 20 students and six adults were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Some parents bought school gear that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago: bulletproof backpacks. Impact Armor Technologies in Cleveland is among a small but growing number of U.S. companies marketing backpack shields and other bulletproof school products. The movement to steel children against the extremely rare chance they'll encounter a school shooter is controversial. Opponents say bulletproof backpacks feed children's fear and suspicion of their peers, adults and the world at large. School safety consultant Kenneth Trump said fortified backpacks are simply not practical. "I often ask, if you need a bulletproof backpack, are you going to need a bulletproof frontpack as well? Are you going to get a bulletproof helmet to go along? Are you going to train the student to take a Captain America stance and defend himself?"

Impact Armor makes the boards of the synthetic fiber Kevlar, layered with adhesives, to make a panel about a half-inch thick that slips inside a backpack. The boards sell for $70 to $95, depending on size. Besides backpack inserts, the company has protective equipment for teachers and hallway guards -- bulletproof clipboards, desk calendars, white boards and bulletin boards that can be used as shields. All of the school gear withstands rounds from handguns up to a .44-caliber Magnum. It would not protect against assault rifles. Impact Armor started to develop school products about a year ago, before the December shooting spree that ended the lives of 6- and 7-year-olds in Newtown, Conn. The company branched off from its main output at its Collinwood plant -- bulletproof helmets, vests and other ballistic gear for war zones and police forces. Impact Armor distributed a news release in April touting its school line. "School should be a safe haven for our kids and teachers.

But sometimes -- lately -- it has become a dangerous place instead," the release said. "Gun violence in schools is occurring in large cities and small, and there's no warning or advance notice. That's why Impact Armor has created a full line of bulletproof school safety products for schools." To Rob Slattery, sales manager at Impact Armor, arguments against school armor fall to the wayside if a bulletproof product protects even one child. His own daughters, a 24-year-old at Cleveland State University and a 14-year-old high school freshman, carry bulletproof backpacks. "If we save one life, regardless of whether we sell one or a million, we've done something fantastic," he said. Slattery also doesn't buy the idea that children are being pointlessly scared with doomsday scenarios. "I'm not saying 'Look at every corner. But I think you have to kind of wise your kids up," said Slattery, who retired with a 2008 line-of-duty knee injury from the Brooklyn police force.

Victor Ruiz, executive director of Esperanza, worries about the message sent to children. "Instead of giving students a message of helping to create a safe environment, it gives them the message that unsafe environments are a part of life and they have to protect themselves and not be engaged in changing the root causes of violence," said Ruiz, whose organization provides education and scholarships to Hispanic students in Northeast Ohio.empty backpack poem Trump, the school safety consultant, said many schools don't let students carry around backpacks during the school day, so they would be uselessly stashed in a locker when an emergency arose. mcm backpack cheapestTrump also contends that companies selling bulletproof school products will find they're chasing budget dollars that don't exist.arsenal backpack skin

"Most districts can't afford it, no way," said Susan Averre, a history teacher in the North Olmsted School District. Trump's company, National School Safety and Security Services in Cleveland, promotes safety measures such as staff training and basic equipment like two-way radios for teachers to communicate during emergency lockdowns.embark backpack review "How on earth are you going to get 25 kids behind a small hand-held whiteboard that doesn't even fully cover the teacher?" bjorn backpack carrier Lisa Mack, president-elect of the Ohio PTA, said school safety is a critical priority and the PTA recognizes the importance of parent involvement in crafting school safety policies. crumpler 15 laptop backpackShe declined to comment on bulletproof equipment because her organization doesn't weigh in on topics on which its members have not adopted formal positions.

Impact Armor's Slattery said inquiries about protective backpacks picked up after Sandy Hook. But he noted that the company had branched into school products before Adam Lanza stormed into the bucolic elementary school and fired 157 rounds from a Bushmaster before turning the rifle on himself. At Solon City Schools, Superintendent Joe Regano said the rampage left him and others in shock. "It sent a different warning," Regano said. "We're reviewing an awful lot and trying to make changes." He said bulletproof school products could have a role. For now, the Solon district is focused on tightening security procedures for dropping off and picking up kids at school, structural changes such as improved doors and beefing up in-building security crews. Philip Dickinson, director of operations and business at Orange Schools, said the district has ordered several bulletproof desk blotters for employees at the front entrance who greet visitors. But the district's primary focus is on slowing down intruders with a door buzzer system and hardened doors, as well as speeding up the arrival of first responders with a better emergency notification system.