I don't know whether to laugh or cry.  These "Ballistic Backpacks" by MJ Safety Solutions come in two styles and retail at $175.  The MJ Solutions Web site says that there have been 328 school shootings since 1999 with 229 dead and 422 injured.

Those numbers are sad and frightening, even given the ratio of instances to the actual number of school-aged kids in America, but is paranoia devouring our ability to be practical?  Are companies like this capitalizing on our fears? 

An aside: One definition of Ballistic is: (Informal) to become overwrought or irrational: went ballistic over the idea of a school shooting. 

Ahem.