In addition to spurring action on gun legislation, a recent rash of mass shootings in the U.S. has apparently led to an increase in sales of body armor.
According to a Tuesday NPR report, representatives of four sellers of body armor contacted by the outlet said they saw a rise in sales following the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas and the grocery store shooting in Buffalo, N.Y. this May.
These four companies – National Body Armor, Spartan Armor Systems, Armored Republic and UARM USA Corp – declined to provide specific numbers, NPR said.
“You can’t control what evil people do. And you can’t control what lawmakers do. But you can buy your own child a backpack with armor in it,” said David Reece, the CEO of Armored Republic. He said parents have been particularly concerned for their children since the Uvalde shooting.
Salvador Ramos, an 18-year-old gunman, killed 19 children and two teachers during the massacre. Payton S. Gendron, the reportedly racially motivated shooter who murdered 10 people in Buffalo, was also 18 years old. High School mass shooting tragedies – such as the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in 2018 – have also brought attention to gun control issues in the U.S. in recent decades.
As of Tuesday, there had been 267 mass shootings and 14 mass murders in the U.S. so far in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
Many retailers said people who usually buy body armor are gun owners, according to NPR. However, it is “becoming popular among leftist progressive people of color,” who want to protect themselves from far-right extremists, said P.B. Gomez, the founder of the Latino Rifle Association. He said members of hate groups such as the Proud Boys have also bought vests.
Mass shooters have also been known to wear body armor.
Both Ramos and Gendron wore bulletproof vests as they opened fire on their victims, according to New York Magazine. Over the past four decades, at least 21 mass shooters have worn some sort of body armor, said an Associated Press report.
“This broader trend in increased body-armor sales tracks with a rise in gun sales in the past few years,” said the National Criminal Justice Association.
There are few restrictions on who can buy body armor in the U.S., said the association. Although people convicted of a violent felony are banned, enforcement of this law can be lax. Some states have more restrictive laws than others.
Gun legislation is poised to become somewhat more restrictive at a federal level in the U.S. The House of Representatives recently passed gun legislation that has moved to the Senate, and a bipartisan group of Senators announced Sunday they had come to a deal on gun legislation.
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