Bulletproof Student Desks
I watched a brief video of students participating in an active shooter drill in which they turned their desks sideways to scrunch behind (head still showing) and held their textbooks (hands and arms exposed) over their faces.
Yeah.
So, I googled, “bulletproof student desk” to see what I found. No one can argue that there is a market for such an item in These United States.
Sure enough, I found several sites, beginning with this one, for Indianapolis-based Creative Industries, which offers Bulletproof Furniture for Schools.
I give you the Bulletproof School Desk:
From the ad:
Facing the Reality of School Shootings
As every parent surely knows, the tragedy of school shootings is an all-too-common occurrence in today’s world. Even one such incident is too many but think about another number: 312. There have been 312 school shootings in the United States since 2013. (Schneider’s note: 2021 copyright date. Add 27 more 2022 shootings as of June 08, 2022. Why, we have so many that EdWeek has produced this 2022 interactive map.)
Clearly, finding a way to prevent gun violence in schools is a top national priority. However, until that solution presents itself, schools have a responsibility to find and implement ways to keeps students safe today.
Thankfully, there are products on the market that can make schools safer, products such as the bulletproof desk by Creative Industries.
Designed with Schools in Mind
As a matter of fact, the idea for the bulletproof desk came from a school teacher, the wife of company co-founder Mike Clark. Based on her concept, the safety experts at Creative Industries created a product designed to offer a high level of protection while looking right at home in a classroom setting.
How It’s Made
To maximize versatility and affordability, designers started with a standard school desk and added two pieces of bullet-resistant fiberglass to the front. According to laboratory tests, the fiberglass used on the desk is thick enough to stop a .44 bullet at close range.
After the fiberglass is installed, the front and top are laminated with a plastic coating to add another layer of protection. The final step is to cover these specialized surfaces with Formica so they appear just like another piece of school furniture.
By adding bullet-stopping protection to the front and top, the desk becomes an ideal place to seek cover and shelter in the event of a live shooter emergency in a school.
Dual Protection: Cover and Concealment
Due to its flexible design, the table can serve as both a protective shield as well as a place to hide. Students or teachers can easily turn the desk over and kneel behind it for protection both from the front and above.
Creative Industries has plans to develop a version of the desk that can be pushed on its end to block the door to prevent entry from an intruder during an emergency.
It’s About Saving Lives
“My wife had the idea, and our capable team brought it to life,” said Clark. “CI is known for our bullet resistant windows, so when this opportunity presented itself, we were happy to jump in and help. At the end of the day, it’s about saving lives.”
There are more. Mississippi residents Todd Drummond and son created the Defender Safe Space Desk, which enables a person to completely encase oneself in ballistic material weighing 130 pounds:
Too, there is Ohio resident, Dave Hollenbach’s bulletproof desk, which can be constructed on an existing desk and is made of anti-ballistic, heavy-duty fiberglass and tested using both handguns and assault rifles. This desk folds up and also shields a person’s legs:
Finally, there is this bulletproof desk designed by First Line Furniture in St. Louis:
There you have it: Some options for equipping classrooms in Our Modern America.
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deutsch29: Mercedes Schneider's Blog 
We are training our young for living in a militarized police state. Not much scientific or artistic innovation gonna happen in that future.
The answer isn’t ‘bullet-proof desks’. First, get rid of the assault weapons, I own a gun or two in order to defend my garden from rabbits and my orchard from crows and squirrels. I don’t need an AR-15. Even if I hunted deer for food, I wouldn’t need an AR-15. Large magazine assault weapons should be banned, period.
Next, we need to get cops (and military) out of schools. Clearly, they are ineffective (at best) and they promote violence (at worse). There’s no reason to allow them to promote such activities in our schools.
And, finally, I think we need to re-think our promotion of interscholastic sports. Don’t get me wrong. I was a coach, and I still think learning to work with a ‘team’ is useful, as well as learning to take responsibility. However, there’s a difference between healthy competition and the ‘hate-fests’ that sometimes begin to creep into a school (particularly at ‘pep rallies’). Funny how the non-participants egg on the athletes to become brutal and then wallow in the result as if they actually did something other that ‘cheer’.
I don’t want to live in this world.
I feel this.
Reblogged this on Nonpartisan Education Group.