Middle schoolers given bulletproof shields for starting high school

Pennsylvania students issued backplate described as ‘kid friendly’ in preparation for when ‘terror strikes’

Students at a school in Pennsylvania have received a bulletproof backplate for their backpacks as a gift for graduating eighth grade. The ballistic shields were donated by a local company and given to students at St Cornelius school in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, as a leaving present before high school.

The manufacturer, Unequal, claims on its website that the shield is "kid friendly" and allows you to "be prepared" when "terror strikes". The shield retails at $149 (although when the Guardian checked, the site was offering 10% off for people using the somewhat tasteless discount code "battle ready").

In footage of the gifting ceremony, children were left speechless by the sombre tone of the gift. The president of Unequal was also invited to speak, telling students "it's sad that times have called for such a product to be invented, but we have answered such a call".

It comes at a time when sales of bulletproof backpacks, and other products that claim to provide protection during a school shooting, are booming. Manufacturers of the Bullet Blocker backpack, for example, say they saw a 300% increase since the Parkland shooting. Sales of school security equipment reached $2.7bn last year and technology analytics firm IHS expect that to increase this year.

Other products on the market include door barricade systems, software that scans social media for the threat of an attack and "active shooter kits", which claim to offer "the essential items needed to administer first aid prior to the arrival of Fire or EMS personnel". Students at some schools, including at Majory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, are now only allowed to wear clear backpacks.

These products are marketed by private companies and often play on parents’ and students’ fears. But those fears are considerable: a Pew poll in April found that 57% of American teenagers and 63% of American parents say they are either somewhat or very worried about the possibility of a school shooting happening in their school. Fear of shootings was also considerably higher among poorer and non-white students.

Some parents are going as far as to remove the children from school entirely. Tim Lambert, president at the Texas Home School Coalition told the Washington Times that they number of calls they receive has doubled in the past few moths, from 600 to around 1,400.

At a time of heightened anxiety, the one measure that does not seem to be discussed is gun control. Yesterday, Betsy DeVos said that the new school shooting safety panel created in the wake of Parkland will not consider any gun control measures, or even study the role of guns in school safety. When asked if the commission would be looking at the role of firearms, the education secretary answered "that is not part of the commission's charge, per se".