In a world where children are taught to prepare for the possibility of an active shooter in their school, are bulletproof shelters are the new normal?
They may soon be, thanks to a company called Shelter-In-Place that makes bulletproof safe rooms that double as severe weather shelters.
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One of the safe rooms can hold up to 35 students and teachers, according to Shelter-In-Place. They take less than a minute to load and can be locked from the inside. Each structure contains its own backup power, lighting, air filtration and security cameras.
Videos provided by Shelter-In-Place show the safe room withstanding gunfire from an AK-47, an AR-15, a 9mm and other firearms.
Healdton Public Schools, a small district in southern Oklahoma, is the first in the nation to install the bulletproof structures from Utah-based Shelter-In-Place. The district has installed nine at its elementary and middle schools, and additional safe rooms will soon be installed at high schools.
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Superintendent Terry Shaw is so confident in the product that he secured himself inside of the shelters and allowed himself to be shot at.
"I volunteered. I did not feel comfortable putting these in my buildings if I wasn't willing to do it myself, so I offered to go inside. But it was very surreal. I felt very comfortable, very safe," he told KOCO-TV.