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A FATHER’S LOVE for his children is all powerful and the desire to protect is natural but can be all-consuming.
Oklahoma native Steve Walker took his protective streak and turned it into a business idea…albeit a disquieting one.
This week, he received much media coverage across the Atlantic for his bullet- and tornado-resistant blanket.
He struck on the idea after a spate of lethal school shootings and tornadoes.
A physician at Edmond and father of two elementary school students, Walker said he wanted to protect his sons from any dangerous classroom crisis.
““We wanted our children to have a layer of protection immediately,” he said of the blanket which uses the same material as army vestments in Afghanistan.
He created the product with a team of inventors and ballistics experts over the past year.
He envisages them being stored in classrooms and says they can be “easily applied” in seconds.
Kids put them on just like a backpack with head-to-toe defense.
Walker’s business partner Stan Schone admits that the bullet will still hurt but “it’s not going to kill you”.
“As the students put them on and line up in the hallway, they develop a shield
like the Romans and Greeks used to lock together, so it gives them added protection.”
The men are also quick to point out that the blanket is not just a reaction to “deranged gunmen”. It also protects from flying tornado debris, they say.
“It won’t save every life. We would never say this is better than a tornado shelter,” Walker said. “But we do believe we’ve developed the next best option.”
According to reports, the blanket costs about $1,000 but the company says it wants to work with corporations who would be willing to donate to schools.
The ad for the blankets is terrifying. Properly terrifying. If you don’t have time to watch the full thing, it begins with these words:
“Just an ordinary day. Parents are going to work. Children are finding their seats in the classroom, turning in work and talking to friends. Dedicated teachers… are calling a role, answering questions and preparing her students for a morning maths test. Just an ordinary day…that is until now…
Here it is during a ballistics test. Equally terrifying.
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Sad state of affairs when a product like this can be marketed and sold in a so-called civilised country
“Land of the free” might not be such a good thing when it includes a free for all on gun ownership
Sad is right David. But have a look at the comments on the recent article on here about the latest shooting, absolute nuts on defending the gun laws, couldn’t get over it, makes me sick. I mean coming up with various stats, long-winded posts defending the existing gun control and some person even saying that the level of mental health problems Americans have is the real problem.
Guns arent the problem, the system that turn people into unstable freaks is. And I’m no fan of guns. Hate them tbh.
But just look at Switzerland. Massive gun ownership but gun killings are miniscule.
In the US, the treatment of the mentally ill and also the drug treatments that make people mentally ill is the root cause.
Every mass killing is down to some nutjob who had a history of mental illness and a history of been on a certain type of drug or drugs.
Yes, take guns away from the above system and the shootings will decrease but thats not solving the problem, only making it smaller.
Jason if there is a problem where mentally ill people have access to guns then maybe some certification as to mental health should be incorporated in the gun access protocols.
Truth, I agree.
Tighter gun laws would have helped rather than coming out with ideas like this. But the horse has bolted now and so many guns are out there now.
Chicago has the tightest gun laws in America and one of the highest rates of gun crime in America. So there goes your theory.
Ugh I hate this argument! Chicago has the most restrictive gun laws BECAUSE of the out of control gun crime. And this gun crime is fuelled by the fact that there are no restrictions on gun purchase just beyond the city limits; over 1000 firearms confiscated last year were purchased in just one single shop. This illustrated that a nationwide restriction in necessary and local laws are powerless in the face of the rabid American gun culture.
Do they have county boarder checks?
So what you’re saying is that if we can’t get rid of 100% of guns it’s not worth having any gun laws at all?
They could do with some of these in Ballyfermott….
Go on then list the school shootings in ballyfermot…. Oh wait
Shame on the journal for the massively insensitive timing of this article given what happened last night…
Actually this article is making world news but the idiot above made the obscure relation
Kids being shot and what happened last nite in ballyfermot is an obscure relation ?? Your the idiot
Yea because a kid playing out on the road will have a school owned bulletproof blanket on him, get real
Let me guess.
Brought to you by the same company (or sister company) that makes the automatic weapons available at your nearest WallMart???
Looks like you dont get much bulletproof material for $1000 these days.
Should they be calling them the “Bulletproof Hankerchief”
Let me guess.
The full-size version “for even better protection” is available for $2000?
Or Obama Admin could be flogging them to subsidise the cost of crisis actors etc…
I agree with u it is v insensitive after what happened last night
Do u come on here to argue with people and call them names?mind ur own business if u dont like a comment i agreed with fair enough but keep ur pathetic statements and insults to urself and cop on u ignoranamus not everyone thinks the same and did i offend anyone?.no.maybe just u.
Sorry Tracyface, that comment was for Frank, who is obviously a sandy hook truther nut job!
@Trealoch ok.thanks its just i got an email off the journal saying someone has replied directly to ur comment.i took it to heart and am v sensitive was upset replying.thanks
Murica F*ck yea!
Like I said before, guns and war are big business. That’s why America has no will to change. They don’t want to upset the billion dollar companies.
They need to prevent these shootings from happening with tighter gun laws,kids should be safe in school instead of living in fear and having a ridiculous bulletproof blanket to protect themselves..
Gun control and amnesties will not work in America… Psychopaths and mass killers will not hand up their arms that easily and more so if they were never registered in the first place.
The solution is to utilise the 2nd amendment and train and arm school staff to be alert and prepared at all times for some gun wielding lunatic. Waiting for authorities to respond maybe to late.
As for “Gun Free Zones” they are an joke.. the only ones that obey these notices are law abiding citizens who will end up dead because they cannot return fire as we have discovered in several recent incidents.
More than likely any of the recent school shoot outs are Government sponsored Psyops designed to demonize gun ownership, spread fear and attack the 2nd amendmemt.
Less guns = harder to commit gun crime. It’s very simple really
Larry Fitzwell …Not in theory..
Less guns amongst law abiding citizens = less chance of defence.
Reminds me of South Park volcano episode. Stop, drop and cover!!
You can still be killed wearing one of these or a bullet proof vest.All that energy has to go someplace,and thats into your body. Called radial shock trauma a massive energy dump that bruises or ruptures internal organs and can lead to internal bleeding.
How can I protect my children from this massive dump?
America is a farce of a country. Every single NRA lunatic is armed to the teeth. And idiots like Frank here suggesting that the teachers be trained to return gunfire??? Seriously???
Larry Fitzwell …and Idiots like yourself falling hook line and sinker for Mainstream Media reports.
Larry Fitzwell.. and there is a reason for this…
America is in a precariously dangerous position…. You have a corrupt terrorist supporting Government hell bent on collaborating, arming and supporting terrorists across the globe…. The same Government want’s top disarm the nation…
Use your brain why so many Americans are so defensive about their 2nd amendment rights…
Larry, I’m not a gun supporter, but seriously, use your head. Such a simplistic view of a group of people you seem to know nothing about.
Something seriously wrong when you start seeing these ads on the tv
It is absolutely disgraceful that there is a need for a product like this. Effective gun control is the solution.
That’s it they’ve officially lost the plot over there!
You make it sound like we are any better here
We are better here, in terms of mass shootings in schools, anyway.
Is there a snuggie version I can put my arms through and wear?
That would be a traditional bullet-proof vest.
Where else but only America !!! “Mommy I’m off to school now, did you pack my lunch…..oh and my bullet proof blankly”.
Only in America. This is the result of any moron being aloud to have a gun over there.
Not surprising that the number of children being homeschooled in America is rising, be it slowly.
That’s all fine an dandy until some lunatic brings an RPG to the show.
Yes and more than likely coming from Obama’s terrorist Jihad buddies
Do you know thats its more likely to get shot and killed by the police over there than a un-uniformed nutters.
Actually, more likely to be killed by a cop over there than a terrorist pre-9/11 and post 9/11.
You’d fit in well over there Frank.
Most deaths that happen due to weapons are usually out of negligence . People that are not properly train in how to use a weapon safely . How to load it , unload it and make it safe . In the military each yr soldiers die because of negligence with weapons . These are men that are constantly train how to use weapons as safely as possible to avoid unnecessary deaths . You put weapons into the hands of people that have no training or respect for them and you end up with a lot of dead innocent people .
Larry.. Been in the US for two years of my life….pre 9/11 when it was the land of the free… My mates had several guns, one managed an apartment block for 40 tennants so could justify having them. Of course they were locked away from his kids.
Company markets product trading on the fears of every parent out there. Well, that’s never happened before in human history.
Well, unless you count the ten thousand other bullet-resistant children’s clothing products the americans are already busily selling each other.
Not a very appropriate article in light of the horrific incident in ballyfermot last night
The article is the usual cut & paste of one that has been out there, in the real world, for a while.
But very appropriate in the wake of yet another school shooting in the U.S that’s just happened.
Oh so that was plan all along was it?
Make some more money out of fear.
only in America……talk about burying your head!
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