Tactical Bulletproof Vests: Cons

Weeks have passed, but there’s always a constant reminder of the active shooter that caused horrific tragedy in your city. This one has, quite literally, hit close to home. Whether it be your favorite coffee spot, restaurants, or stores, you’re nervous to go out in public in fear of experiencing another attack.

In order to get back to doing what you need, you decide to invest in ballistic protection. Whatever it takes to remain safe is what you’ll do.

Recently, a friend had mentioned that you should bulletproof vest. The reason? It’s what the law enforcement wear to protect themselves. Sure, that seems like a valid reason.

bulletproof vest downfallsLaw enforcement officers put their lives on the line day in and day out to protect the public, and ballistic vests are what they trust. Why shouldn’t you?

The thing is, there’s a lot of downfalls to wearing tactical bulletproof vests. And much better options exist. Let’s discuss the cons of bulletproof vests for both civilians and other professional public service workers, such as EMTs and bodyguards.

Bulletproof Vests are Heavy

Bulletproof vests are heavy, period. Typically, most weigh in around the 20-pound mark, which is a pretty considerable—especially for someone who is smaller in stature or has less strength.

Imagine strapping that extra 20 pounds to your body and hauling it along through everyday activities. It might be okay for a short period, but as time continues on it will become more and more difficult to wear. 

Go ahead, try to purchase ballistic body armor with adequate protection without breaking the bank. Realistically, you should expect to spend between $350 to $750 dollars when purchasing a vest with ballistic protection—and that’s not including additional ballistic plates.

When said and done, your purchase of a bulletproof vest will likely run you skyward of $1000 dollars.

Vests Don’t Offer the Most Protection

One of the most significant downfalls of body armor is that it offers only a relatively small amount of protection, in terms of surface area.

Think – when strapping a bulletproof vest to your chest, it’s only going to protect you and the body parts of someone else that is directly behind the vest. What about your arms, legs… even your head? You get the point.

Safe and Sound, but The Body Still Absorbs the Impact

No matter how much protection a bulletproof vest offers, when a bullet impacts its outer layer, you’re going to feel it. You might be safe and without a scratch, but its proven that this can seriously alter the thought process of the wearer—which can make a deadly situation that much worse.

Other alternatives, like a ballistic shield such as our PopShield, absorb the bullet’s impact and keep its force off the body. Not only does this reduce the risk of injuries like bruising, abrasions, broken ribs or even behind-armor-blunt-trauma (BABT), it helps inspire the confidence of the user in a dangerous situation.

Vests Aren’t Always Practical to Wear

Let’s face it— do you really want to wear a tactical ballistic vest everywhere you go? As previously mentioned, they’re heavy. Not only that, but they become increasingly bulkier with the more protection they have, and draw a lot of unneeded attention in your direction.

Secondly, bulletproof vests aren’t exactly built with a one size fits all design. This might not matter if you plan on wearing it 24/7, but what if you’re not around and a friend or family member is in need? Chances are that they don’t have the same body type as you, meaning the vest won’t properly do its job in protecting them.

This is just a bit of thinking that prompted us to create a better option – the PopShield, our lightweight deployable ballistic shield.