In the months that followed the October 2017 mass shooting at a Las Vegas country music concert, Aaron Ansel started thinking about products that could help defend people against mass shooters. 
 
 "I just thought, is there any sort of technology-based solution that could have kept people safe? There has to be something," the inventor told Newsweek in a recent interview. 
 
 Several months and at least 100 mass shootings later, Ansel welcomed the first 1,000 CoverMeSeats, a chair he designed to convert into a bulletproof vest. He began selling them for $100 on his website earlier this week. 
 
 The product compliance attorney, who lives in Seattle, readily admits that the necessity of a product like his is "depressing." Nonetheless, he foresees it having practical uses in classrooms, concerts or during other outdoor gatherings. The advertising materials for the product feature teens sitting in front of what looks like a school campus, smiling as they wear different colored versions of the CoverMeSeat. 
 
 CoverMeSeat 
 
 Although he's faced backlash from people who think the seat is capitalizing on mass shootings, Ansel insists he created it to save lives. He framed the chair as something "immediate" that can be done without waiting on Congress to strengthen gun control laws. 
 
 "Look, there is gridlock legislatively, nobody is really winning the gun debate," he said. "What was really important for us was to come up with a solution that is not contingent or dependent on the passage of laws or reform," he said. 
 
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 "It's as apolitical as a fire extinguisher," he later added. 
 
 Ansel declined to state how many CoverMeSeats he has sold so far, but the attorney said most of his customers haven't been "stereotypical" gun enthusiasts. He counts teachers, employers and people who attend music festivals within his core demographic for the chairs. 
 
 CoverMeSeat 
 
 In the aftermath of the deadly Parkland, Florida, school shooting, Ansel is hardly the only inventor trying to find solutions to what's been called a mass shooting epidemic in the United States. Doctors have developed high-tech first-aid kits, while school systems across the country grapple with whether to mandate clear backpacks or potentially install bulletproof doors and windows. Some schools are even considering arming teachers with guns. 
 
 "You really have to look at a lot of factors to determine what measures make the most sense for every school," Michael Dorn, the executive director of Safe Havens International, a company that works with schools to come up with safety plans, previously told Newsweek. 
 
 "If it sounds like a simple solution, it’s probably not that effective," Dorn opined. 
 
 Some of the more unique methods have caught national attention—and been subsequently pilloried. Teachers in Millcreek School District in Pennsylvania were told to use baseball bats against would-be shooters, and another school district is arming its teachers with rocks. Parents also appear to be looking for quick fixes: In the days that followed the Florida shooting, stores across the country reported selling out of bulletproof backpacks. 
 
 However, the students at the forefront of the gun control debate have said they don't want flashy devices, and they definitely don't want clear backpacks. Given previous statements, it's a safe bet they wouldn't want the chair, either. 
 
 "Let me be clear," tweeted Parkland survivor Ryan DeWerff. "I have not been asking for school security, I have been asking for common sense gun laws. However, I think school safety is important. Clear backpacks and checkpoints don’t make anyone feel safe. They make us feel like black sheep, like we’re different. ||||| Facebook 
 
 A California college student who was injured in the Las Vegas mass shooting filed the first lawsuit against MGM Resorts, which owns the hotel and casino from where the gunman fatally shot 58 people and injured more than 500 others at a music festival on Oct. 1. 
 
 
 
 Paige Gasper, a 21-year-old student at Sonoma State University, was struck by a bullet during country singer Jason Aldean's performance at the Route 91 festival. 
 
 
 
 The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in a Nevada district court, accuses MGM Resorts and Mandalay Corp. of negligence by failing to maintain the hotel's premises in a "reasonably safe condition." 
 
 
 
 Other defendants named in the lawsuit include Live Nation Entertainment, the company that hosted the Route 91 festival, the estate of the shooter, Stephen Paddock, and Slide Fire, which manufactured the bump stock device that allows semiautomatic weapons to fire at a rate close to that of an automatic weapon. 
 
 
 
 "This is the America we live in where people can do horrible things," a lawyer for Gasper said at a news conference Wednesday. "By failing to plan for it, we put a lot of people in danger." 
 
 
 
 Paddock, 64, managed to smuggle in 23 guns, including AR-15 and AR-47-style assault rifles, into his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, turning it into a "fortress," law enforcement officials said. Gasper's lawsuit accuses the hotel of failing to respond in a timely manner to Paddock's shooting of a hotel security guard, who — according to a revised timeline from authorities — was shot six minutes before Paddock targeted 22,000 concertgoers on the street below. 
 
 
 
 MGM Resorts disputed this new timeline, saying, "We cannot be certain about the most recent timeline that has been communicated publicly, and we believe what is currently being expressed may not be accurate." 
 
 
 
 Lawyers for Gasper said a big focus of their investigation would be the six minutes between Paddock's attack on the hotel's security guard and his shooting upon the concert. 
 
 
 
 Her attorneys said that the "chain of command" at the hotel seemed to have broken down because for six minutes "nothing happened." 
 
 
 
 John Locher / AP 
 
 The lawsuit states that MGM Resorts should have known their failure to keep their premises reasonably safe would result in "catastrophic injury perpetrated by a gun-toting guest with an extreme intention to harm others." "This lawsuit is not about gun control," her attorneys said Wednesday, adding that their focus was on how Paddock managed to smuggle multiple weapons into the room, and install surveillance outside, without raising red flags with hotel staff. 
 
 
 
 "He spent at least four days stockpiling weapons and ammunition. One would wonder how the room service or cleaning staff did not notice what was going on," one of her attorneys said. 
 
 
 
 Authorities had earlier determined that hotel employees going to and from Paddock's room did not notice anything nefarious. 
 
 
 
 The bullet that struck Gasper entered her right underarm and traveled through her breast tissue, shattering her ribs and lacerating her liver before exiting her body, the lawsuit states. 
 
 
 
 While being helped by her friends to escape, she was trampled by a crowd fleeing the concert, according to the lawsuit. She was eventually rescued by a good Samaritan who helped her take cover behind a dumpster on the venue grounds and then took her to a hospital in his truck. At the news conference Wednesday, Gasper's mother, Heather Selken, said it would be a "long recovery" for her daughter who is a senior in college and worked three jobs. 
 
 Selken said the decision to file a lawsuit was not an easy one for the family because they are "private" and "humble," with members from law enforcement and the military. 
 
 
 
 "My daughter is extremely strong and patriotic," Selken said. And while "people can be hateful" when it comes to legal action, she said "for change to happen, the hard things have to happen." "We want change to happen so this won't happen to you, your children, and your families," she said. 
 
 
 
 On Oct. 3, MGM Resorts announced that it would donate $3 million to aid victims of the shooting and first responder organizations. A fundraising page started on behalf of Gasper has raised more than $4,400. ||||| Hundreds Of Victims Of Las Vegas Shooting File Lawsuits 
 
 Enlarge this image toggle caption Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 Hundreds of victims of the Oct. 1 shooting in Las Vegas filed five lawsuits in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday. 
 
 The largest of the suits names 450 plaintiffs. Among those being sued are MGM Resorts International, owner of the Mandalay Bay resort; Live Nation, organizer of the country music festival at which 58 people were killed; and the estate of Stephen Paddock, the shooter. 
 
 The victims claim negligence by both MGM and Live Nation. They accuse MGM of not having adequate security policies, not properly training staff, not properly surveilling the premises, and failing to respond quickly when security guard Jesus Campos was shot. The suit alleges that Paddock's VIP status as a high-stakes gambler gave him access to a service elevator at the Mandalay Bay, which he used to stockpile weapons and ammunition in the days before the shooting. 
 
 In Live Nation's case, the plaintiffs say the company failed to provide enough exits or properly train employees "in case of a foreseeable event, such as a terrorist attack or other emergency." 
 
 The shooter's estate is being sued for assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. 
 
 The attorney heading the lawsuits, Muhammad Aziz, told Reuters that the cases were filed in California because most of the plaintiffs are from that state and received treatment there. He also noted that Live Nation is based in the state. 
 
 Last week, a different law firm filed 14 suits in Nevada court. In addition to MGM, Live Nation, and Paddock's estate, these suits also name the manufacturers of the bump stock devices found in Paddock's hotel suite. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argue that the shooting could have been stopped, and that the lawsuits are intended to prompt policy changes so it can't happen again. 
 
 Similar to the California lawsuits, the suits filed in Nevada argue that MGM assisted Paddock in transporting his arsenal by giving him access to a service elevator not open to the public, and that the Mandalay Bay failed to adequately monitor the hotel premises, discover his weapons, have gunshot detection devices in hotel rooms, or have adequate procedures to handle an active shooter situation. The suit alleges that Live Nation failed to provide adequate exits or properly train staff to handle emergencies. 
 
 "The evidence we've seen thus far clearly indicates that the defendants were culpable in contributing to the 58 victims who lost their lives and the thousands more still suffering from severe injuries that will take years to overcome, if ever," said attorney Antonio Romanucci in a press release. He is also lead counsel in lawsuits related to the 2016 shooting at Orlando's Pulse nightclub. 
 
 Live Nation told NPR that it does not typically comment on ongoing litigation. 
 
 MGM wrote in a statement to NPR: "The incident that took place on October 1st was a terrible tragedy perpetrated by an evil man. These kinds of lawsuits are not unexpected and we intend to defend ourselves against them. That said, out of respect for the victims, we will give our response through the appropriate legal channels." 
 
 It won't be easy to prove the venues were negligent. 
 
 "One can't blame the hotel for not predicting that this gunman would go up to their 32nd floor with an arsenal and break out the windows and start firing at people," Tom Russell, a personal injury lawyer and law professor at the University of Denver told NPR's Kirk Siegler. He said venues can also be victims, in the form of lost business or other harms. 
 
 As Kirk reported last month, victims sued the theater chain Cinemark after the 2012 Aurora, Colo., movie theater shooting. But the victims lost their suit, and were ordered to pay Cinemark's legal fees. A legal expert also said that lawsuits against the gun industry tend to be unsuccessful. 
 
 "Laws like the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act passed as recently as 2005 broadly exempt the gun industry from any tort lawsuits when criminals use their products," Kirk reported. "Meanwhile some victims, as in one motion already filed in Las Vegas, go after the gunman's assets. But even if they win, there's rarely enough money to go around." 
 
 C. Chad Pinkerton, an attorney in the California suits, told the Associated Press that the shooting could have been avoided if officials had implemented safety recommendations and followed the weapons policies they had. 
 
 "We know in this day and age that evil does happen, and we have to protect against that," he told the AP. "This was the largest venue security failure in U.S. history."
– An enterprising attorney has created a portable chair that converts to a bullet-proof vest, for use in schools and entertainment venues. Aaron Ansel came up with the idea for the CoverMeSeat following the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. "I just thought, is there any sort of technology-based solution that could have kept people safe? There has to be something," he tells Newsweek. The chair, which looks like a stadium seat, has a quick-release mechanism that allows the user to unfold it, place it over the head, and cinch it at the waist, similar to an airplane life vest. A YouTube video shows it stopping bullets and there's a fitted compartment for optional ballistic plates. Ansel has been criticized by those who see him as capitalizing on mass shootings, but he says the device is a practical solution to a problem that shows no sign of going away. Indeed, hundreds have died in mass shootings since the Las Vegas massacre and the US has suffered 57 times more school shootings than all other industrialized nations combined since 2009, CNN reports. Ansel says his typical buyer isn't the gun enthusiast. Rather, he's marketing the product to teachers and concert-goers. "It's as apolitical as a fire extinguisher," he tells Newsweek.