Wisconsin student’s invention sparks nationwide interest after Florida shooting
A 17-year-old high school senior created a product called the “JustinKase,” which was made to prevent active shooters from entering school classrooms.
Inventor Justin Rivard told FOX Business’ Cheryl Casone on Thursday that interest for his product has skyrocketed since the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, which resulted in the deaths of 17 people.
“In crazy amounts of time, in 24 hours there had been hundreds of emails that have been flooding through our website about how they can get one, how can I purchase one [and] how much does one cost. I means, it’s all the way from New York to California and everywhere in between,” he said.
Originally Rivard made the device in shop class; the safety product is made of steel plates with connecting rods and is then latched onto a door’s frame to block entry.
“So it all started with our school adopting ALICE Training, which is protocol for active shooters and we were taught to barricade the door with whatever he had in the room…My shop teacher challenged me to go after and use my skills in the metals area and welding and make a solution,” he said.
To help determine the product’s efficiency, members of his high school football team tried to break through the door with the device in place, but to no avail.
Rivard’s school, the Grantsburg School District, was so enthralled by the product that they purchased over 50 units, one for each room in the building.
“They started the whole process with ordering I think it was 51 for the high school and that was the first order that I had ever gotten,” he said.
The safety product is currently selling online for $95 a unit and has a patent pending.
Since Rivard has enlisted in the Army, he only has a limited amount of time to help his father complete all of the recent orders, before shipping off to basic training in the summer.