WATCH: Alabama School Pilots Bulletproof Shelters for Classrooms
This is the sad reality of education in the U.S. in 2023: An elementary school in Cullman, AL, is piloting a new bulletproof panic room that could be built into classrooms, for easy “pull out” access for teachers and students during a hypothetical mass shooting.
According to the company that designed them, KT Solutions, the “Rapid Access Safe Rooms” (RASR) are 8 ft by 8 ft and can be deployed in 10 seconds.
KT Solutions owner Kevin Thomas told the Washington Post that the inspiration for the RASRs came to him after the shooting in Uvalde, TX.
“Those parents in Uvalde and Sandy Hook and Columbine and all the rest of them … we got to let them know, “We hear you, and we’re going to do something as individuals,'' Thomas said, via WaPo. “Because right now we can’t depend on the government.”
“This is a way to buy time until we as a community and a country figure out the bigger, deeper rooted problems,” he continued. “I hope this thing has to go out of business because we fixed it.”