Ballistic armor companies are marketing protective products designed for the military to parents and schools. Some people see the items as unsettling but prudent; others find them infuriating.
This is cynically capitalist and just theater anyway. Any plates that reasonably approximate NIJ III+ would be prohibitively heavy for children to carry throughout the day, if they actually wore them at all. The whiteboard/shield combo is my favorite one here: almost reasonable!
First: There is no current NIJ specification for III+. It’s either IIIa, III, or IV. III+ is a marketing gimmick for plate that stop all level III threats, but don’t stop all level IV threats.
Second: I guess that depends on what you count as ‘prohibitively heavy’. UHMW plates that are listed as III+ by the manufacturer (again, there is not NIJ specification for this) can be in the 5# range per plate for a small. My backpack in middle school was easily 25# since I never used my locker, so ???.
This is cynically capitalist and just theater anyway. Any plates that reasonably approximate NIJ III+ would be prohibitively heavy for children to carry throughout the day, if they actually wore them at all. The whiteboard/shield combo is my favorite one here: almost reasonable!
I dunno, you shoulda seen my backpack by high school, shit was a lethal weapon.
First: There is no current NIJ specification for III+. It’s either IIIa, III, or IV. III+ is a marketing gimmick for plate that stop all level III threats, but don’t stop all level IV threats.
Second: I guess that depends on what you count as ‘prohibitively heavy’. UHMW plates that are listed as III+ by the manufacturer (again, there is not NIJ specification for this) can be in the 5# range per plate for a small. My backpack in middle school was easily 25# since I never used my locker, so ???.
sounds like the children need to be stronger, and more r&D needs to go into making lighter bulletproof equipment.