Back- to- school fear

The market for bulletproof backpacks is tragic

If only it were just baseless and cynical marketing. Sadly, there is legitimate interest in a bulletproof backpack for students heading back to school.

While citizens and elected officials wring hands over a reasonable response to rampant gun violence, America’s enterprising retailers have stepped up with products like the bulletproof backpack.

Guard Dog Security certifies backpacks to stop 44 magnum and 9 mm bullets. They are available at many big- box stores, including Walmart.

There are issues with the backpack: It covers only a portion of the body and most schools restrict backpacks from being toted around all day, classroom to classroom. But the biggest issue with a bulletproof backpack is that anyone would ever have to need it.

It’s only a step away from schoolmandated “active shooter training” for kids and school staff, security guards posted at doorways and in hallways, high- tech alert systems, cameras, gates, bulletproof partitions and doors.

And, still, it’s not enough. It’s tragic that children need to be protected by armored clothing, that school districts spend limited resources on security they hope will never be used and that the public endure intensified surveillance, monitoring and suspicion. The alternative is a better social service system and reasonable federal and state gun control measures.

Until then, the bulletproof backpacks retail at $ 179 for the basic model and a little more for the model with a phone charger.