I've been wanting to look into getting some plates and a carrier for work, because I worry about potential workplace shootings. The advice I've been given in the past has been to get a backpack and some plates to keep ready to go on my desk, but I'm not sure where to start looking. Level IIIa plates seem to make the most sense, because we are in a facility that is controlled access. It would be very possible for someone to sneak a handgun in without any real trouble, but long guns aren't realistically going to come into play.

My questions are as follows...

• Do I need to buy a specially made backpack, or could I simply throw the plates into the laptop sleeve of my current bag? Is that inadvisable?
• Would it be worth going ahead and looking for level III plates instead?
• Would spall-coated steel plates work acceptably here? I'm told that steel plates are not usually a good idea because of the increased weight, but weight isn't as much of a consideration here.