Sales of Bulletproof Backpacks Skyrocket

This child's backpack comes with a bulletproof insert capable of stopping a bullet from a .357 Magnum handgun. CREDIT: Fox 13 News View full size image

A Utah company specializing in bulletproof armor for military and police officers is now seeing unprecedented demand for what was once a novelty item: bulletproof backpacks for children.

Amendment II, based in Salt Lake City, Utah, formerly sold a handful of children's backpacks with an insert of the company's "RynoHide" armor at gun shows. But since the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., interest in the protective backpacks has spiked to the point where the company's website has crashed several times, according to Fox 13 News.

Rich Brand, Amendment II's chief operating officer, emphasized his company is not trying to profit from the recent school shooting, which left 20 children and eight adults dead — the backpacks have been available for over a year. "Never did we expect this to occur," Brand told Fox 13 News. "This isn't what we want. This isn't what we intended."

There is now a waitlist for the backpacks, which sell for $150 to $300 and are capable of stopping a bullet from a .357 Magnum handgun, Brand told Fox 13 News.

Not all parents, however, are enthusiastic about buying protective gear to protect their children from shooters. "[A] child always having to think about that and be prepared for that every day as they get ready for school would be way over the top," Utah resident Laron Zaugg told Fox 13 News.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.