Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times,
A federal judge this past week overturned New York state's ban on the sale and purchase of body armor, saying it violated the Constitution's Second Amendment.
In a 47-page ruling on Oct. 21, U.S. District Judge John Sinatra wrote that body armor is encompassed under the Second Amendment's right for citizens to bear arms. He also wrote that under two gun-related Supreme Court rulings in 2008 and 2022, the understanding of what "arms" meant at the time of the founding of the United States would include protective armor.
The state's "body armor ban violates the plain text of the Second Amendment and the Nation's historical traditions have not permitted such a curtailment of the right to keep and bear arms," the judge wrote, adding that the "restriction categorically violates the right of individuals to keep and bear arms for self-defense."
Sinatra cited the Supreme Court's 2022 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen ruling that established the legal test on firearms, which is that "the government must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation."
He wrote that defensive armor would likely be understood as "an 'arm' protected by the plain text of the Second Amendment during the time of the founding of the United States
"As such, regulation in this area is permissible only if the state demonstrates that
