Here Now: Kevlar Vests for Elementary School Students

The headline in the Daily Mail is a grabber:

Stab-proof school uniforms go on sale to protect pupils from knife attacks

Parents are sending children to school in stab-proof uniforms to guard against knife crime, it has emerged.

They are paying a firm which makes body armour to line blazers and jumpers with a stab-resistant material called Kevlar.

The precautions are aimed at protecting pupils from knife attacks as street crime spills over into schools.

According to a spokesman for the manufacturer, BladeRunner

From what I can gather and from speaking to parents it's just peace of mind for them.

I spoke to a lady yesterday whose son was mugged on a bus coming home from school. She has also got two daughters, but she always sends them to school with no money on them and no jewellery.

Further

Teachers are also demanding to be equipped with stab-proof vests to protect them from attack as they frisk pupils for knives and guns.

Just a regular day in another Gun Free Zone, where everyone is equal or at least equally safe. This time, though, its England, where possession of firearms is banned, as is public possession of a knife, and where the violent crime rate now exceeds that of its former colony.

We should be assured, however, that

The reality of course is that crimes involving knives are proportionately very very low

according to the spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers, whose name is almost indescribably fitting, he being one Alf Hitchkock.

Of course, these are not kitchen paring knives.

No, they are the "assault weapon" version of your typical bread slicer, just the sight of which is enough to push a pretty heavy load of adrenaline through one's system.

While reported street robberies have increased from 25,500 in 2005 to more than 64,000 in just the first four months of this year, the constabulary is clueless. Enver Soloman, deputy director of the London-based Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, who may be living in a different universe entirely, said:

“There is no doubt there are more kids carrying knives but it is not clear why.

“Much of it is for personal safety rather than for putting it against someone’s throat.”

Others suggested increasing the penalty for carrying a knife in public "without a good reason" from two years to four.

We seem to have difficulty understanding that by "tooling down" society, we weaken the law abiding and strengthen the lawless.

The outcome is both natural and unpleasant to contemplate.

You really can't make this stuff up.

Heck, instead of Kevlar, let's just issue everyone—the good, the bad as well as the ugly—a Glock and let God play His role.