Penal Law § 270.21 · Article 270. Other Offenses Relating to Public Safety
Unlawful purchase of body armor
Text — Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 270.21 Unlawful purchase of body armor.
A person is guilty of the unlawful purchase of body armor when, not being engaged or employed in an eligible profession, they knowingly purchase or take possession of body armor, as such term is defined in subdivision two of section 270.20 of this article. This section shall not apply to individuals or entities engaged or employed in eligible professions, which shall include police officers as defined in section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law, peace officers as defined in section 2.10 of the criminal procedure law, persons in military service in the state of New York or military or other service for the United States, and such other professions designated by the department of state in accordance with section one hundred forty-four-a of the executive law.
Unlawful purchase of body armor is a class A misdemeanor for a first offense and a class E felony for any subsequent offense.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 23, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/PEN270.21
- Text hash
- sha256 8de8c0457474d211e9e99d1aeaffbeabde78a012e5c7f6da08c9fbbdc4c85948
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.