Federal Judge Strikes Down New York’s Body Armor Ban

A federal judge has struck down New York’s ban on bullet-proof vests and other body armor as unconstitutional in a decision that is likely to overturn state efforts to prevent individuals, including shooters, from protecting themselves in a life-fire situation.The state, in 2022, enacted a first-of-its-kind law prohibiting most residents from purchasing body armor for self-defense “to further strengthen gun laws.” The law was quickly enacted after a mass shooting at Buffalo.A group of New York residents interested in buying armor sued the state over the law, claiming armor is “not unusual, but in common use for lawful purposes,” and there was no American tradition of depriving citizens of the ability to lawfully purchase or own defensive armor.The state argued, in Heeter v. James, that “at most, body armor is better understood as a tactical accessory to firearms” and not subject to protection by the Second Amendment. United States District Judge John Sinatra Jr., on Wednesday, found the ban violates the Second Amendment.Judge Sinatra wrote that the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller adopted definitions indicating that the term “arms” included defensive body armor. Judge Sinatra added that the law also fails the test outlined in the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, one of several newer recent decisions striking down gun control laws. In that decision, the court ruled that the government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with the nation’s “historical tradition” of firearm regulation.He noted that nearly 100,000 units of body armor were purchased nationally last year and “the fact that 49 states do not ban body armor suggests that it is jurisdictionally common as well.”The Firearms Policy Coalition was one of the plaintiffs in the case. “This is another first-in-history win for FPC and a humiliating defeat for New York’s authoritarian gun control regime,” the organization’s president, Brandon Combs, said in a statement. “Not satisfied with banning guns, they tried to ban the means of surviving criminal gunfire, too,” the statement continued.Judge Sinatra granted the state a 14-day stay to give it time for New York’s lawyers to file an appeal, but he noted that he didn’t think the state would succeed on the merits of any appeal. The attorney general’s office on Thursday said it was reviewing the decision.In May 2022, a gunman wearing body armor walked into a Buffalo Tops Friendly Markets and opened fire in what authorities called racially motivated violent extremism. Ten people were killed in the shooting. About a month later, Governor Kathy Hochul signed the armor ban into law as part of a sweeping set of stricter gun control regulations in response to the shooting.New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, called the package of legislation “reasonable gun laws” and urged other states to follow suit but no other states passed similar armor bans.The shooter, Payton Grendon, is serving a life sentence after pleading guilty to state murder charges. He is now on federal trial in a case that could lead to a death sentence.

Federal Judge Strikes Down New York’s Body Armor Ban

Federal Judge Strikes Down New York’s Body Armor Ban

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