Unlawful wearing of body armor · as in force on May 31, 2026
§ 270.20 Unlawful wearing of body armor.
1. A person is guilty of the unlawful wearing of body armor when acting either alone or with one or more other persons he commits any violent felony offense defined in section 70.02 while possessing a firearm, rifle or shotgun and in the course of and in furtherance of such crime he or she wears body armor.
2. For the purposes of this section "body armor" means any product that is a personal protective body covering intended to protect against gunfire, regardless of whether such product is to be worn alone or is sold as a complement to another product or garment.
The unlawful wearing of body armor is a class E felony.
A person commits this offense by wearing body armor while possessing a firearm, rifle, or shotgun and committing or furthering a violent felony under § 70.02. “Body armor” means any personal protective covering intended to protect against gunfire, and the offense is a class E felony. ★
Marked in the text: penalties, time limits, sums of money. Editorial emphasis added by this edition; it does not appear in the statute as enacted.
This provision appears in Volume 4 — The Court Clerk: Penal Law; Volume 1 — The Court Officer in Plain English; Volume 3 — The Court Officer: Penal Law; Volume 3 — Your Career: Penal Law in Plain English.