Armored backpacks, volunteer guards among responses to school shootings

The latest stories about how the nation is reacting to last Friday's school shooting in Newtown, Conn., which left 20 first-graders and six adults dead at Sandy Hook Elementary School,

include: -- SALES OF ARMORED BACKPACKS REPORTEDLY SOAR: News outlets are picking up on a _Mother Jones_ report that a manufacturer of lightweight body armor for children and backpacks lined

with material designed to protect against bullets says sales "have gone through the roof" since the Newtown shootings. -- MARINE VETERAN "STANDS GUARD AT CALIFORNIA

SCHOOL":Marine Corps Reserve Sgt. Craig Pusley "was on duty Wednesday," the _Modesto Bee_ writes. "Desert camo fatigues, knees slightly bent, the young father stood a

self-imposed watch at Hughson Elementary School. One man. No rifle. No pay. No breaks." "I swore to defend this country from all enemies, foreign and domestic," Pusley said.

As for not having a weapon, Pusley said: "I don't need to be armed to do this." -- STAFFER PUT ON LEAVE AFTER GUN IS FOUND IN HER LOCKER: In Minneapolis, a staff member at a

public school was "put on administrative leave after bringing a loaded gun to school Wednesday morning," Minnesota Public Radio writes. _The Star Tribune_ says the unidentified

woman "has a permit to carry a weapon." She was not arrested. It's not necessarily against the law for staffers to have guns in Minnesota schools, as the _Star Tribune_ also

reports. There's an exception in the state law that bans guns from schools and school grounds — if a staffer has the proper permits and "written permission of the principal or

other person having general control and supervision of the school or the director of a child care center." Greg Lund, a principal at a high school in northwestern Minnesota, tells the

newspaper he carried a loaded gun "for years." He had the district's permission. Lund's school was in a rural area and he wanted the weapon in case his students were put

in danger. "It would be 20 minutes or more before we would have police in the building," he says. Related post: " Let Teachers Carry Guns? Some State Lawmakers Say Yes."

-- GUN SALES TAKE OFF: After previous mass shootings, sales of guns, ammunition and related products surged because some enthusiasts concluded that new laws might soon make them illegal.

That's happening again. "Prices for handgun magazines are surging on EBay and semi-automatic rifles are sold out at many Wal-Mart stores," Bloomberg News says. Copyright 2020

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