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High school student's safety invention now in high demand following Florida shooting
Wisconsin high school senior inventor Justin Rivard demonstrates his device, JustinKase, which is designed to bar shooters from entering classrooms. The safety product, JustinKase, sells for $95. (YouTube screenshot).

High school student's safety invention now in high demand following Florida shooting

A 17-year-old high school senior from Wisconsin created a device to prevent active shooters from barging into classrooms.

Now interest in the product has skyrocketed following the school shooting in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people, inventor Justin Rivard, a student at Grantsburg High School in Grantsburg, told Fox Business.

What is it?

Rivard's device features steel plates and connecting rods. It attaches to the bottom of a door's frame and creates a heavy-duty door stopper that bars entry.

Within 24 hours of the Florida shooting, Rivard's website was hit with "hundreds of emails." People wanted to know "how they can get one, how can I purchase one, how much does one cost. I mean, it’s all the way from New York to California and everywhere in between,” he told Fox Business.

His idea for the product came from his school’s participation in the ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate) program that teaches what to do during a campus shooting.

"We were taught to barricade the door with whatever we have in the room, in the worst-case scenario," Rivard explained. "So, we unlocked the door and put a table in front of the door and easily the average-sized person could get in."

A traditional door stopper was also ineffective.

"Being in a classroom with a tile floor, a regular door stop that you see in an office wasn’t going to hold up against any kind of pressure," Rivard told Fox Business.

Who inspired him?

A shop teacher encouraged him to find a better solution.

"My shop teacher challenged me to go after and use my skills in the metals area and welding and make a solution,” Rivard said.

The patented safety product, JustinKase, was tested by members of the football team, who tried to break through a classroom door. None of them could, according to the report.

The Granstburg School District became Rivard's first customer, buying 50 units — enough for every room in the high school. The safety product, JustinKase, sells for $95.

As orders pour in, Rivard is trying to fill them as quickly as possible.

"Basically, what’s next is getting out the orders that we have right now," Rivard said. "And trying to get them out as fast as we can to prevent anything from happening again at any school, at any given time."

Rivard told Fox Business that he has a limited amount of time because he has enlisted in the Army and is shipping out for basic training this summer.

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