International : Bulletproof backpack for high-school students goes on sale in US

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With almost 30 school shootings in the United States in 2018 alone, one entrepreneur decided to take action and create a bulletproof backpack for students.

Matt Materazo, the CEO and founder of Gladiator Solutions, showed off the PakProtect at his home in Danville, California, on Sunday.

The idea for the new product sprang from the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people. Materazo’s son asked his father whether he could do anything to help. Naturally, the response was to insert an armour plate weighing only 1lb (450g) into a backpack. Thus, PakProtect was born.

After a presentation of the product, the inventor had a couple of high-school students demonstrate how the product could be used in a run, hide and fight situation involving an active shooter.

Materazo is not limiting the product to school students either. He is targeting the office environment, which has experienced a number of mass shootings in recent months.