Civilian Access to Body Armor Stirs Debate

Wall Street Journal ^ | June 17, 2016 | Ben Kesling

[KeyLargo]

Civilian Access to Body Armor Stirs Debate

Officials worry about bulletproof equipment ending up in criminals’ hands; shooting in Orlando highlights issue

By Ben Kesling June 17, 2016 5:30 a.m. ET

Weeks before Omar Mateen went on an Orlando shooting spree, he stopped at a gun shop trying to buy body armor capable of stopping police handgun rounds. The store didn’t carry such armor.

Had Mateen just gone online, he could have easily gotten armor capable of stopping not only handgun fire, but bullets from SWAT team snipers or even armor-piercing rifle ammunition—shipped right to his door with few questions and no meaningful background check.

The mass shooting in Orlando has sparked fresh calls for an assault weapons ban and other efforts to make certain types of guns more difficult to get. But body armor, which could make a shooter much more difficult to stop, remains relatively unregulated.

Law-enforcement officials and some manufacturers worry that the bulletproof equipment will increasingly show up in criminals’ hands.

[KeyLargo]

“A night-shift cashier at an inner-city gas station or convenience store is more likely to find himself with a gun pointed at him than the average cop, and thus has just as much need for body armor.”

Yes, especially many cashiers that are unprotected by the store owners policy of employee no firearms allowed to protect themselves and them working in stores with signs posted at entrance - ‘NO FIREARMS’.