![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I saw a link to a news blurb on TV where they were showing off the latest in bulletproof backpacks for kids.
*blink*
A little bit of googlefoo took me to their web site where they had ballistic backpacks for kids, vests and jackets for adults. From the pictures the jackets look like fairly stylish outdoors wear - a little bulky maybe but nothing that would look out of the ordinary. The jackets go for between 1200 - 2700 dollars, the 'tee' shirts 750, the 'inserts' for backpacks around 300.
From what I understand of this type of ballistic protection it will stop some bullets depending on the range and caliber. The bullet won't penetrate but the kinetic force will still impact you causing damage to bone and soft tissue.
Well, at least for the first bullet. As I understand it, the protection rapidly degrades after that.
Most of the armor will protect your stomach and chest area. This is good if your armed attacker has been trained to aim for the body - like most police officers.
At 700 bucks for chest protection is fairly cheap if you're willing to drop a grand on an assault rifle - because if your aim is to shoot up a lot of people a little protection against the police would be handy.
Your limbs and head would be mostly or completely unprotected. Those backpack inserts? They're fairly small leaving most of your body unprotected. That leaves a lot of heads, arms and legs to be shot up.
Shock and blood loss will kill you too.
So we have an arms race with the well dressed shooter against a well dressed populace. The only winners here are the people selling the guns and the bullet resistant clothing.
-m
*blink*
A little bit of googlefoo took me to their web site where they had ballistic backpacks for kids, vests and jackets for adults. From the pictures the jackets look like fairly stylish outdoors wear - a little bulky maybe but nothing that would look out of the ordinary. The jackets go for between 1200 - 2700 dollars, the 'tee' shirts 750, the 'inserts' for backpacks around 300.
From what I understand of this type of ballistic protection it will stop some bullets depending on the range and caliber. The bullet won't penetrate but the kinetic force will still impact you causing damage to bone and soft tissue.
Well, at least for the first bullet. As I understand it, the protection rapidly degrades after that.
Most of the armor will protect your stomach and chest area. This is good if your armed attacker has been trained to aim for the body - like most police officers.
At 700 bucks for chest protection is fairly cheap if you're willing to drop a grand on an assault rifle - because if your aim is to shoot up a lot of people a little protection against the police would be handy.
Your limbs and head would be mostly or completely unprotected. Those backpack inserts? They're fairly small leaving most of your body unprotected. That leaves a lot of heads, arms and legs to be shot up.
Shock and blood loss will kill you too.
So we have an arms race with the well dressed shooter against a well dressed populace. The only winners here are the people selling the guns and the bullet resistant clothing.
-m