I looked into this because I was intrigued, turns out convicted felons in the good ol' United States are not allowed to purchase/wear/own body armor [1] (barring explicit exceptions).

I wonder what the rationale behind this federal law is. Does wearing/purchasing armor indicate that you, convicted felon, are simply up to no good once again? Is it one of those "you don't need ~~privacy~~ armor if you don't have anything to hide" things?

[1] https://www.shotstop.net/resources-1/2020/9/8/is-it-legal-to...

Because the state wants to make their ability to use force against rule-breakers as strong as possible. Some states even make the use of body armor while committing one crime it's own separate crime.