Critics say new law doesn't ban sale of body armor like accused Buffalo gunman used

Gov. Kathy Hochul will work with the State Legislature to amend a law she just signed that restricts the purchase of soft body armor by citizens to make sure it prevents them from buying the type of hard body armor plates that a gunman wore while killing 10 people in a Buffalo supermarket, her staff said Sunday.

While the Assembly member who sponsored the legislation said he thinks the bill already would prohibit citizens from buying the body armor that protected the accused gunman during the Tops massacre, some critics said it doesn’t.

Assembly Member Jonathan Jacobson, D-Newburgh, who sponsored the bill , said he doesn’t believe amending the bill is necessary. Yet, he’s willing to amend it if he learns from others, like professionals in the criminal justice field, that it’s necessary.

“It was important to act because the problem when you have criminals or potential criminals getting body armor is a big deal and they will do things without regards to their own safety cause they feel they’re invincible,” he said.

The bill did not expressly ban the purchase of the hard armor plating that accused gunman Payton Gendron said in an online diary that he purchased online to wear during the Buffalo mass shooting on May 14. 

Gendron wore ceramic armor plates in his body vest that allowed him to continue shooting even after a security guard shot him in the chest, according to Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia.  

The new law is one of the bills Hochul signed on June 6 with the intended goal of strengthening state gun laws following the shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas. It restricts the purchase of body vests by anyone but police officers, members of the military or individuals with professions that the Department of State and its consulting agencies deem eligible.

Warren Eller, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, does not believe the bill addresses what it claims to.

While Eller believes the issue can easily be addressed in the next Assembly session, he also believes it’s indicative of a larger problem.

To him, the bill doesn’t seem likely to make meaningful strides in gun control, but it’s a symbolic indicator that the governor is responding to her constituents.

“I think we got the bill that we got because it was one of, you know, eight or 10 that were sitting around and ready to go immediately.” Eller said. “And what they did is pass what they had in their hand and for a different time and a different concern.”

A spokesperson for the governor wrote in an email to The Buffalo News that the new law restricts the purchase of soft body vests as opposed to hard body armor because the Senate and Assembly relied upon a prior definition of “body vest” and decided against expanding it.

Hochul “will work with the legislature to expand the definitions in the state law at the first available opportunity,” the email said.

Jacobson said he maintains confidence in the law and its potential to prevent gun violence.

“You can always look at a bill and think how you might want to change it and add things and make it perfect in your own mind, but it was important to move quickly,” he said.

Jacobson does not agree with the claims that the bill does not restrict hard body armor sales. He said that, in his interpretation, if a garment can repel a bullet, then it would be covered by the bill. Still, he is open to changing the language if necessary.

"I'm all in favor of making it stronger to say, you know, 'soft and hard,' whatever we have to do," he said.

James Ostrowski, a Buffalo lawyer who has filed challenges against gun control laws in the past, believes the distinction between the ceramic plates Gendron reportedly wore and the soft body armor described in the bill is clear.

“They’re two different things,” he added.

Jacobson said prohibiting the sale and purchase of body vests is a pro-law enforcement, pro-safety move.

Ostrowski said this law will cause more harm to law-abiding citizens than to those seeking to commit violent crimes. While a person looking to commit a crime can obtain a vest illegally or create their own, the people looking to follow the law lost another protection, he said.

“People have a right to defend themselves and they shouldn't be penalized, you know, because of various failures of prior laws,” he said.