NY Democrat Seeks to Ban Citizens from Owning Bulletproof Vests

New York Assemblyman Jonathan G. Jacobson (D) is pushing legislation to ban residents from possessing bulletproof vests.

The Washington Free Beacon reports that Jacobson’s bill, A 353, would “require residents who own a bulletproof vest to turn them over to police within 15 days of the bill becoming law.”

New York already has a law against wearing bulletproof vests during the commission of “any violent felony offense.” That law states:

A person is guilty of the unlawful wearing of a body vest when acting either alone or with one or more other persons he commits any violent felony offense defined in section 70.02 while possessing a firearm, rifle or shotgun and in the course of and in furtherance of such crime he wears a body vest.

Jacobson’s proposal goes beyond prohibiting bulletproof vests during the commission of crimes by prohibiting the possession of said vests by nonlaw enforcement personnel, period.

The Firearms Policy Coalition reacted to the proposed ban by tweeting:

NEW YORK: If passed, this law would go into effect sixty days later and anyone currently in possession of a body vest would be required to turn it into the police within the following fifteen days. Take action now at https://t.co/22Mse3yYA1 #2A #RKBA #NewYork pic.twitter.com/FPvho7qvpa

— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) January 14, 2021

New York magazine reported that homicides surged in New York City during 2020. The city saw at least 447 murders, which represents “a 41 percent increase over 2019 and the largest tally since 2011.”

Shooting incidents in general soared as well, with at least 1,480 such incidents in the city. The nearly 1,500 shootings represent a 95 percent increase over 2019.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.