I carry soft armor daily and train in hard plates and plate carrier every month. It, just like the firearm, is just a tool. Why people try to give it some mysticism is beyond me. All of my plates are Premier brand. Beware non NIJ certified “body armor”. One thing to remember about 3a soft armor, while it may catch the bullet, it’s still going to hurt like hell, leave massive bruises and possibly break ribs. Ceramic plates on the other hand catch and distribute that energy in the armor itself, and depending on caliber you may not even feel it. They also make trauma pads that you can put in behind your plates that help act as a cushion as well to absorb some of the energy.
All of that said, the hard armor is only for the extreme event of someone trying to turn the CONUS into a warzone, and sadly with the way things seem to be going in the middle east and the reports of Palestinian Hamas/Hezbollah MAMs coming across the southern border, I fear we are no longer as safely removed from the world’s problems as many people would like to believe. Thank the dementia patient in chief for that one…