A Turkish defense firm has begun selling a ballistic school backpack designed to double as a protective shield during armed attacks, with the first units listed this week on Trendyol for 7,500 liras (about $153 at current rates).
The backpack resembles a standard school bag but contains protective materials rated to stop handgun rounds including 9mm, .357 Magnum, .44 Magnum and 5.56mm ammunition, plus shrapnel and sharp objects. It weighs 300 to 400 grams more than a conventional bag, roughly the weight of one extra book.
The bag can be held in front of the body as a barrier.
The launch follows a string of school shootings that have shaken Turkey since April. On April 15, a 14-year-old student entered Ayser Çalık Secondary School in Kahramanmaraş’s Onikişubat district with five 9mm pistols and killed 10 students and a teacher, according to IBTimes UK. The gunman, İsa Aras Mersinli, died after a parent slashed his leg, severing his femoral artery.
That attack came just 28 hours after a 19-year-old wounded 16 people at a vocational school in Siverek, Şanlıurfa, before taking his own life. On Sept. 22, a 15-year-old opened fire with a shotgun outside a vocational high school in Turgutlu, Manisa, wounding 11 students, the third school shooting in six months.
Mehmet Evci, a business development specialist for the Ankara-based project, said the idea emerged after the Kahramanmaraş attack. According to Turkish outlets Ankara Masası and Evrensel, as reported by IBTimes UK, Evci said the backpack was tested in an international laboratory and in company live-fire tests, though no independent certification has been made public.
He said the priority was student safety, not commerce, and the bags avoid a military appearance so children can carry them without disruption.
The Trendyol listing by Greentechwear, associated with İzmir-based Greentech Savunma Teknolojileri, offers pink and black models described as providing Level IIIA ballistic protection, a NIJ standard that stops handgun rounds up to .44 Magnum but not rifle fire. The seller told buyers the low weight comes from the Level IIIA rating.
Commentator Mario Nawfal, in an Oct. 5 post that drew nearly 200 likes and 19 conversations per X syndication data, said the bag illustrates the environment children are growing up in, combining books, lunch and pencil cases with ballistic protection.
Turkish authorities have responded to the shootings with new security measures, including Erdogan’s pledge for a school safety overhaul, including restrictions on student movement during breaks, closer monitoring of arrivals and departures, and at one Ankara school, a mandate for transparent plastic bags instead of traditional backpacks. The ballistic backpack is marketed as a personal, preventive option for families.
