Asked Friday about the challenges of being a Supreme Court justice and a parent of seven children, Amy Coney Barrett told an audience about a time she was sent home from the court with a bulletproof vest and her 13-year-old son saw it tossed on a bed.

Her son asked whether it was a bulletproof jacket, Barrett said, and she grew apprehensive — thinking that maybe she should have hidden it from him. But his next reaction surprised her.

“He said, ‘That’s so cool! Can I try it on?’” Barrett said, drawing laughter from the crowd. But her son then asked more seriously, “Why do you have a bulletproof vest?”

The comments came during a 45-minute discussion at the 10th Circuit Bench & Bar Conference that largely stuck to personal topics, rather than cases and controversies surrounding the high court after a contentious term. Barrett spoke in conversation with Chief Judge Jerome A. Holmes and Judge Allison H. Eid.