Michigan Co. Sells Bulletproof Backpacks To Protect Kids

TROY, MI – In the wake of last month’s Florida school shooting incident, a local company is developing a national reputation for making bulletproof backpacks and other accessories its founders say can save lives. Tom Nardone, founder of Troy firm BulletSafe, created a line of backpack panels, vests, and even a ball cap that could prove useful in active shooter situations.

According to the company, sales of the backpack panel rose 450 percent after the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland Florida. The inserts retail for $99, and company literature explains that the panel “was designed by our company president for his children's backpacks."

"Our company then launched a successful Indiegogo campaign and the public responded. People wanted the opportunity to buy a bulletproof panel at a reasonable price and our panel offered additional features (washability, durability) that help it survive in a kid's backpack.”

Videos on BulletSafe’s website feature Nardone’s elementary-school aged children demonstrating the panels.

BulletSafe also sells bulletproof vests, and a bulletproof ball cap that retails for $129 and was originally intended for law enforcement or security guards. The company says it may not protect you from all consequences of being shot - a concussion, for example. “[B]ut a concussion would be a welcome outcome when compared to the damage a bullet would do to the same area without protection. A gunshot to the forehead is almost certainly fatal without this cap,” the company says.

Does Nardone use the products himself? The video for the backpack panel implies that his children carry them to school regularly. As she demonstrates cleaning the cover on the panel, Nardone’s wife looks directly into the camera and says that in their family, they protect “what’s most important.” Nardone says he doesn’t use his own products at home or work in Troy, but does wear a vest regularly.

“I wear a vest when I do volunteer work in the city of Detroit, which is every other Wednesday evening and some weekends,” Nardone says on the BulletSafe website. “I don't need to wear one in my office or my house because I think my employees, my wife, and my kids like me,” he added.

Top photo via BulletSafe.