Examining the case for a ban on body armor after mass shooting in Buffalo

Examining the case for a ban on body armor after mass shooting in Buffalo



Paul Riddell didn't sell body armor to the 18-year-old bigot accused of killing 10 people Saturday at a Buffalo grocery store. Wouldn't have sold it, in fact.To get more news about bulle proof vest, you can visit bulletproofboxs.com official website.

He's haunted anyway. Another mass shooting, another zealot in the sort of tactical gear Riddell disperses to a deliberately limited clientele.
"All I can see is this scene playing out in my head," Riddell said, "where these innocent victims are killed by this guy."

It's a scene where a former police officer working security puts a bullet into the attacker's torso, according to authorities, but the bullet is neutralized by Payton Gendron's vest, and the guard is shot to death along with six others inside the store and three outside.

It's a scene played out before at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, a supermarket 35 miles away in Boulder, and First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas — at least 21 places in total since 1982, according to a nonprofit research group called The Violence Project, with most of them in the past decade.It's a scene that increasingly comes with questions: How on Earth can civilians get their hands on body armor they plan to use in battles against the first responders it's meant for? Is that against the law? What can be done?

The answers: They buy it, visiting anything from a website to a swap meet. It's legal to own, with limited exceptions. And there's little to be done to restrict sales — which probably isn't as outrageous as it might seem after Buffalo.Riddell, 53, spent nearly 15 years with the Port Huron Police Department before a car crash on patrol drove him reluctantly from the field. He works now with On Duty Gear, the police equipment store founded by his wife, Cissy, in 1999.

On Duty has a store in Clinton Township, a website and a firm policy.

"By design and by choice, we sell body armor to law enforcement, other first responders and security personnel only," Riddell said. "We do not sell to civilians."