Body Armor Question

There was a news article in “the city over there” as I call it… Austin.
It had a list of dozens of people all arrested for rioting.

One of the charges was (Jessica 33yo) “unlawful possession of body armor”.

I didn’t know that BA possession by a civilian was illegal.

I’ve tried looking up any Texas regulations or PC’s regarding this and haven’t found any.
I’m reaching out to all you google sleuths in the hopes you may know for sure here in Texas or know where to look for info on it.

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Might of been a felon…, it is legal for a civilian to purchase body armor like bullet proof vests and plate carriers. Provided that you are not a convicted felon, you can easily buy your vest online although there can be exceptions that vary from state to state depending on local laws or regulations.

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Agree with @Cobra. There may be some state or local ordinances that prohibit it and it is worth your time to do the due diligence to find out. A lot of urban myths went south in the last Iraq war because of the number of “contractors” that had to personally source their own equipment to include BA and the guy from “Second Chance” that was fond of shooting himself in the chest with a 357 Magnum at gun and trade shows that would sell it to anyone with the $$$$.

There have been quite a few things over my years while playing with guns that were “illegal” that are now “normal”. The Mil-Dot reticle in a rifle scope is the one nearest and dearest to my heart as I spent 6 hours in a jail cell for having one in 1989. They put me in the can because “Everybody knows” that mil-dots are for Mil & LEO only, there fore I stole it. Having it on good authority from the fine folks at Premier Reticle in Winchester, VA that it was not a law but an urban myth I asked the good officers, then Sergent, then Lieutenant and finally the DA to “Show me the statute”. They didn’t apologize but I got my rifle and scope back and walked out the door. Had to go back the next day for the ammo. One of the SWAT guys that was called in to “consult” caught up with me later and asked me to teach him how to use it which was pretty heady stuff for a 20 something year old lad.

Cheers,

Craig6

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There may be a statute pertaining to wearing it in the commission of a crime.

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This site has a state by state list of the laws pertaining to the possession of body armor by civilians.
As always double check your local and state laws. :+1: https://defendapackgear.com/

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As others have mentioned, possession of armor is likely not an issue, but possibly commiting a crime while wearing armor is. Some local statutes may be more restrictive.

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