Bulletproof Safe Room to Protect Kids from School Shootings Goes Viral

A video showing how a bulletproof, foldout "safe room" works for school classrooms has gone viral on Twitter, causing many to respond with outrage.

The footage shows one of the two Rapid-Deploy Safe Room Systems by KT Security Solutions recently installed at West Elementary School in Cullman, Alabama. The fold-out room is set up in a corner of a classroom and can be expanded in fewer than 10 seconds, providing a ballistic shield in case of an active shooter.

Calls for strengthening U.S. gun-control legislation on a national level have been growing since the school shootings at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May 2022. An 18-year-old gunman called Salvador Ramos killed 19 students and 2 teachers before being shot dead by members of the United States Border Patrol Tactical Unit (BORTAC).

Last year, there were a total of 51 school shootings in the U.S., according to Education Week's 2022 School Shooting Tracker—the highest number in the past five years. In these shootings, 32 students or other children and nine school employees or other adults died, and 100 people were injured. Since the beginning of 2023, there have been nine school shootings that resulted in deaths or injuries.

"Republicans would really rather lock kids in a metal box and call it a 'safe room' than deal with guns," wrote a Twitter user sharing the video posted by WBCR News. It has now received more than 4.6 million views on the social platform.

"Wow...so instead of stricter gun laws...they just said f*** it, let's pay for safe rooms?" tweeted another. The user added that Republican lawmakers would rather introduce technology like classroom "safe rooms" rather than impose stricter gun legislation.

But renewed calls for stricter laws and bans on assault-style rifles like the one used by the Uvalde shooter have only exacerbated the national debate surrounding gun-control legislation. Republicans have generally advocated against restricting firearms.

That's why solutions to the growing problem of mass school shootings in America that aren't stricter gun control legislation are often met with skepticism and anger.

Some Twitter users who watched the "safe room" video wrote that there is a potentially lucrative industry behind the noble cause of protecting schoolchildren from gun violence. Something like "safe rooms" could lead to businesses focusing on profit rather than the desire and the need to find a solution to keep schoolchildren safe.

"Apparently, this is capitalism at work. Create a problem, then sell a solution. Rinse. Repeat," wrote a Twitter user in response to the viral video. Most people just pointed out that the technology seemed unreal or dystopian.

"Insane that anyone is acting like this should be normalized, this is a Black Mirror episode for sure," wrote a Twitter user referring to the British dystopian sci-fi show. "Wild wild stuff," tweeted another. "I can't wrap my head around this being normal."

But others defended the technology. They wrote that legislation would not be enough to stop ill-intentioned people from shooting—at a school or anywhere else. "No law is going to stop somebody from using a gun. Again people guns don't kill people, people are other guns kill people. Guns can't pull triggers," tweeted one user.

Kevin Thomas, founder and CEO of KT Security Solutions, came up with the idea for the safe rooms after the Uvalde shooting last year. He doesn't seem to think the technology is "going to fix the issues that cause these things," he told WBCR. "But it's going to give us a protective way to go until we figure that out as a community and as a nation."