Leaving the house? Don't forget your bulletproof gear, says Robert Scott.
His Miami-based company Armour Wear is now selling lightweight, bulletproof inserts that are meant to be placed in backpacks, purses and briefcases.
The 11 by 14-inch insert weighs just under one pound, is less than half an inch thick, and rings in at $100.
Using carbon nanotubes, which have five times the strength of steel, the insert is meant to resist bullets fired from point-blank range and shrapnel from explosions.
The Armour Wear CEO said he was driven to start the company after December's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
"There's monsters out there," Scott said. "We live in dangerous and perilous times."
Scott's own children, a six-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl, were the first to receive the bulletproof inserts. While the two are still young, Scott has taught them how to prepare for the worst.
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"I kind of explained to them, 'If something bad happens and you hear loud bangs, grab your backpack and go in a corner and hide behind it,'" he said. "I would rather have my child have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it."
Scott said the product is more cost-effective than the bulletproof backpacks that are currently on the market.
"Many parents know a backpack lasts a kid a year," Scott said. "We set out to make a backpack insert that's $100 that will last 10 years."
The backpack inserts are also anti-microbial to protect against odor, fungi and bacteria that may creep in with children's books and school supplies.
Armour Wear is also in the process of creating bulletproof underwear and undershirts for the military as well as lightweight bulletproof vests for police officers, especially those in South Florida that may not wear them all the time due to the heat.
The bulletproof bag inserts are being sold on Amazon and Scott said he soon hopes to sell them at major retailers like Target.
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