A federal judge has ruled that New York’s ban on body armor violates the Second Amendment, dealing a setback to one of the state’s gun-control measures passed in recent years.
U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr., issued the ruling Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. The case was brought by the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC), which served as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.
New York lawmakers approved the body armor ban as part of a broader push to tighten gun laws following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which reshaped how courts evaluate firearms restrictions.
In his ruling, Judge Sinatra examined the ban against the framework set out in Bruen as well as the Supreme Court’s earlier decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010). He concluded the state’s prohibition could not survive that scrutiny.
“The Constitution requires that individuals be permitted to use arms–including body armor–for the core lawful purpose of self-defense. See, e.g., McDonald. … Nothing in the Nation’s history or traditions closes the door on that right by permitting a categorical ban on the purchase and sale of a specific type of arm.”
He summarized his findings plainly, writing that “New York’s body armor ban violates ‘the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.'”
FPC president Brandon Combs celebrated the decision, framing it as part of a longer legal campaign against state gun restrictions.
“FPC has already made history defeating bans on protected arms like semiautomatic rifles, and now we’re making history again by establishing that defensive body armor is protected by the Second Amendment.”
The ruling adds to a string of court challenges testing New York’s post-Bruen gun laws, as advocacy groups continue to push back against state restrictions enacted in the years following the Supreme Court decision.
