Bulletproof backpacks wouldn't have saved anyone

Sales of bulletproof backpacks have spiked almost 300 percent following a spate of school shootings and the recent attacks in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Yet, none of the backpacks currently on the market would have stopped a single rifle round coming from those gunmen.

Bulletproof backpacks and backpack inserts for students are for sale online and on the shelves at major retailers including Walmart, Office Depot, Home Depot and Bed Bath and Beyond. Made by companies such as Bullet Blocker, Guard Dog and TuffyPacks, the backpacks retail for anywhere between $99 and $490.

“It's sad that we even have to consider a product like this, but it's the issue that we have to deal with now and hopefully we won't in the future," Steve Naremore, CEO of TuffyPacks, said.

What makes these backpacks bulletproof is a back panel or insert made of a flexible ballistic fiber material rated “Level IIIA” by the National Institute of Justice, certified to stop bullets from handguns.

But to block the kind of piercing ammunition frequently fired by military-style rifles in recent mass and school shootings requires protection containing a hard ceramic or metallic plate weighing several pounds, with a “Level IV” rating.

The efficacy of bulletproof backpacks being marketed to students and parents was put to the test by Scott Reitz, a firearms instructor with the Los Angeles Police Department, in a demonstration for NBC News Los Angeles.

The “Guard Dog Security ProShield II” bulletproof backpack, rated Level IIIA, was mounted to a mannequin torso in a t-shirt and placed on a firing range.

Reitz fired at the backpack with a 9 mm pistol and with a .45-caliber handgun.Both shots penetrated the backpack’s exterior and inner fabric, but were stopped by the back panel armor.

Then, Reitz fired two shots from an AR-15 rifle, used by the U.S. military and in some recent mass shootings. Both went completely through the back panel and, with a flicker of the shirt, exited the mannequin’s back.

Simple physics explains how the bullets went through the bag.

“Rifle projectiles present a threat level greater than handgun and even shotgun ammunition," Peter Diaczuk, professor of forensics at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said. "This is due to the higher velocity and consequently greater kinetic energy of a rifle bullet.”

Yasir Sheikh, president of Skyline USA, which makes the Guard Dog backpacks, said in a statement to NBC News, “When considering protection against rifle round ammunition, that entails a thick, heavy ceramic plate which is not practical for daily carry use, especially when considering a child or young adult. Our backpacks are rated for Level IIIA, which is often the same protection used by local law enforcement.”

Despite the lack of protection against rifle ammunition, Diaczuk and other firearms experts don’t have any recommendations against using the backpacks.

“If I were sending a child to school, and the extra weight of the ballistic panels were not a burden, I would favor the protection,” Diaczuk said.

Almost 40 percent of adults say they’re “very concerned” about a shooting at their kid’s school, according to a new Morning Consult poll commissioned by NBC News. And almost half of adults say they would buy a bulletproof backpack for their child.

John Drury recently bought a bulletproof backpack insert for his son, Peyton. They live about 45 miles from Dayton, Ohio, where a gunman killed nine people last week.

“I never would have to walk around with a bulletproof backpack to feel safe in school," Peyton said.

Drury says the backpack’s price is worth the peace of mind.

“At the end of the day, I want my son to be able to come home from school,” he said.