As US kids head back to school, sales of these bulletproof backpacks soar

THEY look like ordinary backpacks, but there’s a heartbreaking reason why these schoolbags are making one company a fortune.

THESE bags sell for more than $500 each — but parents in the United States can’t get enough of them.

Manufactured by Israeli company Masada Armour, the “bulletproof” bags are designed to withstand attacks from weapons such as AK-47s and M-16s.

And as American students head back to school following the summer holidays, the company is struggling to keep up with demand from worried parents who are snapping them up on their kids’ behalf.

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The bags were inspired by the spate of deadly school shootings in the US, and the company, which also sells military-grade clothing and accessories, reported a 30 per cent spike in sales in the wake of February’s Parkland massacre.

In that attack — one of the nation’s deadliest — gunman Nikolas Cruz, then 19, opened fire on students and staff at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas School on Valentine’s Day, killing 17 and injuring a further 17.

Now, the firm’s CEO has confirmed “hundreds” of bags have been sold, with the company even having to ramp up production to keep up with the incredible demand.

“We designed a bulletproof backpack at the request of our distributors in the United States after the huge trauma caused by the February shooting in Florida,” Snir Koren, CEO of Masada Armor, told AFP recently.

“Since then, orders from the United States have been coming in.

Masada Armour has had to ramp up production to meet US demand. Picture: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP

“In two months we have sold hundreds and are gearing up to increase production rates to 500 units per month.”

The basic model weighs about 3kg, although a new and improved five-kilo, $700 model has also been developed and a lighter model for younger students is also in the pipeline.

Despite the staggering price tags, it seems parents are right to be concerned.

It has been a horror year for gun violence in the US — three months after the Parkland shooting, a further 10 students and teachers were killed in an attack at Santa Fe High School in Texas — the 22nd school shooting of the year, according to CNN.

And according to the Every Town For Gun Safety Support Fund group, there have been an extra 57 incidents of gunshots in US schools so far in 2018.

The surge in shootings has lead to a raft of viral survival advice doing to the rounds.

After the Parkland attack, a US woman’s chilling Facebook post describing how she gave her nieces doorstops “to always keep in their backpacks” so that they could keep entry ways open or shut in the event of another school shooting went viral.

And earlier this year, Somerset High School student Justin Rivard also made headlines after devising an interlocking device of steel plates and connecting rods used to seal doors shut — and keep kids safe.

— With wires

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