Some years ago, a county sheriff was having to deal with a potentially dangerous situation, so he put on his body armor. It was a quality rig with full chest and back coverage as well as side panels. In the gunfight that ensued, the sheriff was shot and died. The bullet had bypassed the vest at the arm hole and had struck him in the heart. A freak occurrence? Perhaps. But stark testimony to the vulnerability of anything not protected by the vest.
I have never invested in body armor because I know from prior experience that good protection is heavy, bulky and restricts movement. Vests that only protect the center of the chest provide scant protection and to the extent they make someone think they are less vulnerable than they actually are may encourage behaviors that make them more likely to be killed.
Despite all the people claiming to shoot "sub-moa" at a stationary target off a bench, the reality is that most people shooting offhand at a moving target are likely to miss, so if the weight and bulk of the vest slows someone down and keeps them from moving, it may actually be dangerous.
With incomes not rising and many people still paying off their panic buying, I don't think there's a lot of demand for vests.
