A question came into my office recently about body armor laws/regulations and whether a Washingtonian with a felony conviction could lawfully purchase body armor. A quick internet search found several websites that purport to give the status of body armor laws in all 50 states. All but one said the same inaccurate thing –
“In Washington, anyone can purchase and use a bullet proof vest, unless he or she has been convicted of felony.”
According to these websites, there is a blanket prohibition in Washington on all convicted felons. But none of these websites provide a reference/citation to the Revised Code of Washington; they all just seem to be quoting each other.
I know of no Washington law regulating the purchase/possession of body armor by a convicted felon or anyone else.
However, Federal law does prohibit VIOLENT felons from purchasing/possessing body armor (see 18 USC 931, see also definition of “crime of violence” in 18 USC 16). And, of course, this federal law applies to all states. So in Washington, if you’ve been convicted of a felony that is defined as a crime of violence, you cannot purchase/possess body armor (this is a lifetime prohibition). But there are lots of felonies that do not fall into the crime of violence category (e.g., theft, fraud, etc.).
A large part of my practice is helping Washingtonians get their gun rights restored through the courts (DV convictions, and most class C & B felonies). And the federal government will honor Washington’s restoration of firearm rights (permitting a NICS background check to go through) but, for whatever reason, the feds will not apply that restoration of firearm rights to their “crime of violence” body armor prohibition.
My felony is out of NM, 2006, non violent/sexual. Iam a citizen of Idaho. Can I own body armor since my offense is non violent?
I am not aware of any Idaho State law that prohibits body armor possession for the scenario you’ve described. HOWEVER, as I point out in my blog article, the federal prohibition follows a violent felon anywhere in the U.S.
I have had my rights restored and have purchased a few firearms. Can i buy/possess body armor in WA state?
30 years ago false accounts of theft non violent,no witnesses I reported was called to court, but can I purchase such entity as what is mentioned in prior comments?
First of all, congratulations on your restoration of rights and successful purchases. If you have not done so already, please apply for your WA Concealed Pistol License. You may not want a CPL but there will always come a time in every handgun owner’s life when they need a CPL and, since it takes a month or more to get one, it’s better to have and not need it than to need and not have it.
As to your question, it will depend on what your conviction was for (I’m going to assume it was a felony since the federal body armor prohibition does not care about convictions less than felonies). WA law does not prohibit felons from possessing body armor, but federal law prohibits “violent felons” from possessing body armor (and restoration of gun rights has no effect on this). Please refer back to my blog article for this. Federal law defines a crime of violence in 18 USC 16 as: “(a) an offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or prop-erty of another, or (b) any other offense that is a felony and that, by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense.” So you’ll need to look up the elements of whatever felony you were convicted of and compare it to the federal definition of a crime of violence. Something like Theft 2 (a class C felony) would not meet the federal definition of a crime of violence, neither would drug possession, but Assault 3 (a class C felony) probably would, and Assault 2 (a class B felony) and Assault 1 (a class A felony) certainly would.
It’s very difficult for me to understand what your question is, but I’ll take a stab at it. If you were convicted of felony theft, generally speaking, that is not going to be considered by the feds to be a “crime of violence” – so felony theft should not prohibit the possession of body armor. If you live in Washington and you do have a felony conviction, I encourage you to inquire about getting your right to possess firearms restored. If I have misunderstood your question and you would like to rephrase and resubmit your question, I would be happy to try again at answering. Thank you.