SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (KTSU)— Demand for a Utah company’s bulletproof backpacks and even child-sized body armor has skyrocketed in the aftermath of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn.
A Utah company called Amendment II started a business a couple of years ago after an increase in nationwide shooting events.
They sell a brand of lightweight armor called “Ryno-Hide” to police agencies and the military.
Last year the company decided to start manufacturing sheets of the armor into children’s backpacks.
“The concept came up as things happened at schools,” Rich Brand, Amendment II’s Chief Operating Officer, told FOX 13 on Tuesday. “Children need protection as well.”
Rich Brand, Amendment II’s Chief Operating Officer, said they generally only sell a handful of the backpacks and child-sized body armor at gun shows.
These backpacks retail from $150-300. But after the Newtown shooting that killed 20 children, the demand for the product has skyrocketed. There has been so much demand that the website server has crashed several times the company said.
“Anyone who’s sending out a child into the world, seeing what can happen now, they want to protect their children,” Brand said.
To find out more on the trend and how people are reacting to it, click over to KSTU.
