Bulletproof Backpack

[hdwhit]

I remember the kevlar lined briefcases they used to (may still) sell to businessmen who didn't want to (or couldn't) wear body armor under their suits. It always seemed to me to be a "better than nothing" proposition given the time it would take to bring into action and the fact the shooter could change his point of aim once you raised the briefcase.

As far as this backpack goes, what concerns me is that it has to be "converted" and and while they tout the conversion taking "less than five seconds", when someone is shooting at you five seconds is an eternity. I'm left with the mental image of a shooter appearing in front of a group of people and the one with the ballistic backpack pulling someone in front of them for cover while they fiddled with the zippers, straps or what have you.

"Yeah, John, you fend him off with your 'tactical iPad' and as soon as I get this thing converted, I'll use it cover us both. Okay? John? John?"​

 

[hdwhit]

reddog81 wrote:
I'm guessing just about any back pack, a couple inches of books and a laptop will probably stop most pistol rounds.

The titanium composite used by IBM (later, Lenovo) in the shell of business class Thinkpad laptops could be surprisingly effective in stopping bullets.

 

[herrwalther]

"...a couple inches of books and a laptop will probably stop most pistol rounds..." Highly unlikely. A .22 LR will penetrate about a foot of stuffed newspapers.

Wetpack newspapers is not the same as layered paper. Balled up kevlar is not as effective as layered kevlar in a vest.

https://www.concealedcarry.com/safety/will-textbooks-in-a-backpack-stop-bullets/

 

[il_10]

I've seen the concept a few times in briefcases, clipboards, and backpacks before. I don't think it's a bad idea, but the price point strikes me as a little unreasonable, depending on the plates I guess. A lot of consumer backpacks now have a pouch close to the back for a laptop, which would hold any armor insert about perfectly. I can't speak to the quality of them, but you can get some of the cheaper PE IIIa plates for like $70 a piece. You'd have pretty much the same rig for like $100.

It wouldn't be 'tactical' looking, but if I were unarmed and relying on an armor backpack to save me, I wouldn't want anything 'tactical' anywhere near me...

 

[mustachio]

As a retired high school science teacher, I had he safest room in the school. Other teachers were awed by the steps I took to secure my room and protect, to the best of my ability, my students. We had informal lock down drills when the school did not. However, should the unforeseen occur, like one of my students coming in with a handgun, I tried to be prepared. A friend of mine (local Palm Beach County Sheriff) gave me his old vest. I cut the panel out and lined my ballistic nylon briefcase with it. Yes, it was heavy to carry but if I put it up to my chest or head it offered a degree of protection should some little brat want to shoot at me. Yes, if you feel better giving your kid a "bullet resistant" backpack, do it. I know I had a small sense of relief knowing I had that protection. Today, I don't use that briefcase too much, but I am carrying ever time I leave the house.

 

[chicharrones]

Friggin' Tactical One model weighs 6 pounds 3 ounces, empty. The "Civilian" one weighs 5 pounds 3 ounces. And over priced. $329 for the "Civilian" model.
By the time you get the thing 'converted' the fight'll be over anyway.
"...a couple inches of books and a laptop will probably stop most pistol rounds..." Highly unlikely. A .22 LR will penetrate about a foot of stuffed newspapers.

Dry newspapers have to be layered flat and all air compressed out to replicate the simple stopping qualities of a 3.5" thick phone book or a Grainger catalog. In my experience, a .22 LR out of a handgun only makes it through maybe 2" of a phone book. .32 ACP and .380 ACP don't make it through a thick phone book either.

Yet, it doesn't really matter as no one I know carries Grainger catalogs, let alone phone books, in their backpacks.

 

[lemaymiami]

Back in the days when I worked the streets there was a jeweler in my town that went to the trouble of armoring the fronts of all his counters with single, double, or triple layered old phonebooks -so that in any armed confrontation he could hit good cover by simply dropping down below the level of the phonebooks (which were concealed from the customer side of things. I don't think they were ever used (but he did get taken and tied up in a later robbery - jewelry stores back in the eighties and nineties could get exciting down here in south Florida...).

I'm pretty sure that a double layer of those old phone books (about five to six inches of solid paper) would have stopped most handgun rounds - but these days I doubt you'd be able to find anything in the way of "big old phonebooks" they seem to have disappeared with the times....

 

[Chevelle SS]

Hickock45 shot a thick text book with a 500 S&W and it only went halfway through or so if I recall correctly.

 

[mnrivrat]

My thoughts - waste of money.