I’m always looking for the slight edge when it comes to my safety…

And for a while now I’ve been looking into bulletproof products. Of course, I could be ultra safe and wear a bulletproof vest every day but that’s not going to happen. As any police officer will tell you, wearing a bulletproof vest is not comfortable and in 90-degree weather, it’s downright miserable.

I’d say that anybody who tells you they wear a vest on a daily basis is either lying to you or they’re probably on the verge of doing something illegal and they know they’re going to need it.

So instead of sweating to death in a vest I started looking at other options such as bulletproof backpacks and laptop bags. However, they were very expensive (usually $500 or more) and I didn’t see anything I liked.

Well, I contacted a fellow I know that makes bulletproof products for the military and police. I told him that I simply wanted a bulletproof panel that I could use in my laptop bag and transfer to other bags. I also wanted to use it for dry fire practice in my house and for unloading and loading my guns in my house.

I told him it had to be level IIIA armor. Level IIIA armor is the highest level of protection that is made for concealable armor. It’s the stuff SWAT teams use and stops up to a .44 Magnum.

I decided that a 10″ x 14″ size panel would be ideal and my friend kindly agreed to custom make one for me. As soon as I picked it up from him I began using it in my laptop bag, which comes pretty much everywhere with me.

I also used it when unloading and loading my guns and dry firing in my house. Plus, it comes in real handy when I have to clean my Glock since you have to pull the trigger to clean it.

The thing is, as soon as I got it I wanted to shoot the panel and test it out. However, I couldn’t bring myself to sacrifice the panel as body armor does cost a decent amount of money. However, before a pistol course this past weekend I decided to finally put it to the test.

Let’s just say I was pleased with what I saw and feel much better about having the panel around for dry fire and other uses. Now I just need to contact my friend and get a new one.

Perhaps it will encourage you to get a panel for yourself. Even if you don’t carry it around in your laptop bag, at least you have a safe backstop to point your gun in your house.

Read the original story and where to buy one here: My Bulletproof Laptop Bag.

Image courtesy Jason Hanson/USA Carry