A federal judge has ruled that a constitutional challenge against New York state’s ban on the sale of bulletproof vests to most civilians can proceed.
In a Nov. 8 decision, U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, John Sinatra Jr., denied a motion by Attorney General Letitia James and other state officials to dismiss the challenge, stating that the plaintiffs have standing. It was decided that
The three individuals and the firearms rights group Firearms Policy Coalition Inc. argue that enactment of the law in question would violate the “fundamental individual right to keep and bear commonly used defensive weapons” and the Second Amendment. They claim that their rights under Article 14 are deprived.
In 2022, the New York State Legislature passed a law that would make it illegal for vendors to sell body armor to most civilians in New York. The first violation is a misdemeanor, and subsequent violations are felonies. The law allows vendors to sell only to law enforcement and law enforcement-adjacent occupations who present proper identification at the time of sale. Applies to in-person and online sales.
People who bought bulletproof vests before the law took effect cannot be arrested for wearing them.
The law was passed in response to the Topps supermarket shooting in Buffalo in May 2022 that killed 10 people.The gunman was wearing a bulletproof vest, and police at the time A former Buffalo police officer said he may have fired the shots. If he wasn’t wearing such equipment, he could have been stopped.
Similar bills have been introduced multiple times in the U.S. House of Representatives by some New York state lawmakers, but those measures have had no effect.
