Pa. House bill would ban sale of body armor that aided Buffalo, Texas shooters

By John L. Micek – Capital-Star

HARRISBURG, PA – With the Republican-controlled General Assembly unwilling to move on any new gun violence-reduction measures, a Democratic lawmaker from suburban Philadelphia is trying another approach.

On Wednesday, Rep. Tim Briggs, of Montgomery County, started seeking legislative support for a ban on the purchase and possession of the body armor of the sort worn by the shooters in the deadly rampages in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas.

“The use of body armor is becoming common among mass shooters who use these military weapons to murder children and the elderly,” Briggs wrote in the memo seeking co-sponsors for his proposal.

In the racist massacre that left 10 Black people dead inside a Buffalo grocery store, a security guard fired at the accused shooter, and hit him, but did not stop him because he was wearing body armor, the Associated Press reported.

In the Uvalde shooting, the Texas Department of Public safety said the shooter was wearing body armor, NBC News reported, but was fatally shot by law enforcement.

There are fewer restrictions nationwide on the possession and purchase of body armor than there are for guns, NPR reported on May 20 in the wake of the Buffalo murders. Its prevalence in mass shootings has raised questions about the ease of its accessibility, and fears that those shootings will grow deadlier if law enforcement cannot stop a shooter, NPR reported.

According to NPR, the only limit on purchasing body armor is a federal ban on possession of body armor by people convicted of violent felonies.

Connecticut, the home of the deadly Sandy Hook shooting, further restricts body armor sales by requiring face-to-face sales, NPR reported.

In his ‘Dear Colleague‘ memo, Briggs noted that New York state lawmakers had been debating a body armor ban. Such a ban could have slowed the Buffalo shooter had it been in place, Rolling Stone reported.

In addition, “Australia prohibits the possession of body armor, the European Union prohibits civilians from possessing military armament including ballistic protection, and in four Canadian provinces you cannot possess body armor without a permit issued by law enforcement,” Briggs wrote.

Under his proposal, someone “who currently possesses body armor will have 15 days to turn it in to a law enforcement agency or they commit a felony,” Briggs wrote.

Briggs’ proposal was just one of the efforts legislative Democrats launched Wednesday to seize on the political momentum created by the Buffalo and Texas shootings.

In the state House, an effort, backed by House Democrats, to force consideration of legislation banning semiautomatic rifles failed by a vote of 111-87.

(Photo via Getty Images/Colorado Newsline.)