History Main / BulletproofVest

In reality, the low-level vests issued to police officers are usually only rated to stop small-to-medium-caliber handgun rounds. Rifle rounds and very high-powered handguns usually require hard ceramic armor plates, which often shatter upon impact. Even if the vest stops the bullet from penetrating your body, you are likely to sustain broken ribs and nasty bruises. The ones designed to stop the bigger bullets are also very bulky and unlikely to be worn underneath clothing.

** The breastplates of the cuirassiers were still effective even against WorldWarI-era rifles, and were used as basis for the much heavier armour wore by soldiers tasked with cutting barbed wire. The war brought the end of body armour use for three reasons: the introduction of tanks led to the development of more powerful loads for the standard rifle rounds and of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin anti-tank rifles]], both of which could defeat even the heaviest armour; machine gun fire would hurt the cuirassiers with the repeated impacts of their bullets, wound their unprotected arms and legs and kill their horses, making them useless; the soldiers defending the trenches learned very fast to just shoot the wire cutters in the unprotected legs, quickly neutralizing them before they could open a hole. In the end the only part of the armour that was kept (and knew more widespread use) was the helmet, as it was still useful against shrapnel and glancing hits from enemy rifles, while breastplates were relegated to parades and dress uniforms.

** See [[http://www.schuzak.jp/other/dmgchart.html this list]] for all weapons stats.

* The primary function of the full-body desert suits most characters in ''Manga/DesertPunk'' wear are to protect from the weather, but they provide decent protection from bullets and fragmentation as well. One mook's vest let him take about a half dozen rounds from Kosuna's handgun at very close range and Kanta's on two separate occasions protected him from ''sniper rifle'' fire. Basically every part of the suits are stated to be made of some kind of Aramid (a classification of strong, heat-resistance material that Kevlar belongs to), even the ''[[NiceHat hats]]''.

* 'Manga/DesertPunk'' uses quite a bit of armor.

* During [[SpanishAmericanWar the USA's campaign to subjugate the Phillipines]], natives would wrap thick ropes around themselves as armor against the the standard .38 revolver bullet the Army had at the time. This led the Army to temporarily bring the Single Action Army back into service, and led to the development of the 1911, with more powerful .45 caliber ammo. The ropes actually didn't provide much protection against bullets, but they did restrict circulation, making it take longer to bleed to death from bullet wounds.

** These vests, up to 20 layers of cotton, with a few thin steel plates, were still quite effective against the standard issue .38 revolvers used by most police officers at the time. One rather well known hitman, ([[{{Irony}} if anybody remembers his name please place it here]]), was killed while wearing one by a officer using a BAR, essentially a light machine gun.

* Subverted in ''Film/{{Robocop}}''. Lt. Murphy, wearing full body armor plus a Kevlar helmet, is shot dozens of times. While the vest and helmet stop the bullets, the force behind the bullets causes severe internal injuries, [[spoiler:mostly]] killing him and leaving a perfect test subject for the Robocop program.
** Murphy's vest got shredded from being shot dozens of times, and he wasn't wearing a helmet when he was [[BoomHeadshot 'executed.']] Not to mention, his unarmored hand and arm got blown off.

* Played straight in ''Film/{{District 9}}''. Wikus is hit while [[StormingTheCastle infiltrating MNU]]. After he kills the offending shooter (leading to a CrowningMomentOfFunny), he looks at the bullets left in his vest.

* In the beginning of ''{{Predator 2}}'', Danny Glover armors his car by hanging kevlar vests over the side windows.

* [[GunsmithCats Bean Bandit's]] famous armoured jacket seems to be multiple layers of Kevlar wrapped in leather, possibly reinforced with metal. It nearly breaks one character's foot when she accidentally pushed it off a dresser. It'll stop just about anything short of a point-blank assault rifle.
** The same applies to his ''headband''.

** The breastplates of the cuirassiers were still effective even against WorldWarI-era rifles, and were used as basis for the much heavier armour wore by soldiers tasked with cutting barbed wire. The war brought the end of body armour use for three reasons: the introduction of tanks led to the development of more powerful loads for the standard rifle rounds and of [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin anti-tank rifles]], both of which could defeat even the heaviest armour; machine gun fire would hurt the cuirassiers with the repeated impacts of their bullets, wound their unprotected arms and legs and kill their horses, making them useless; the soldiers defending the trenches learned very fast to just shoot the wire cutters in the unprotected legs, quickly neutralizing them before they could open a hole.

* In the ''RichieRich'' movie, one of Professor Keenbean's inventions is a spray that makes clothes bulletproof (not to mention stain-proof and waterproof). Which comes in handy for Richie when the BigBad tries to shoot him near the end of the film.

* Burke from AndrewVachss's books often wears Kevlar, but consistently notes that it still hurts to be shot.

* In SandyMitchell's TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} CiaphasCain novel ''For The Emperor'', [[AntiMagic Gunner Ferik Jurgen]] proves that imperial guard armor is not as useless as some people say: His helmet allows him to survive ''a bolter[[hottip:*:miniature rocket-propelled grenade]] shot to the head'', though it's made clear that a second shot would have [[YourHeadASplode killed]] him (the helmet is destroyed). Granted, it was stormtrooper Carapace armor, not standard-issue Flak armor.

** In ''Film/LethalWeapon'' Riggs is apparently killed during a drive-by shooting and does the "vest reveal" bit to explain his survival.

* Leo [=McCarthy=] from ''FXTheSeries'' stated that a bulletproof vest would not help against the sniper that he's trying to catch.

* In ''The Evil That Men Do'' Charles Bronson shoots a CIA man with a shotgun, only for him to get up again. This time Bronson shoots him in the face.

* In the remake of ''New PoliceStory'', Jackie Chan's character takes a gunshot point-blank to the chest while negotiating with a hostage taker, and is able to take the guy down immediately after. Subverted immediately after, in which it's indicated that he was [[CrazyPrepared lucky he was wearing]] ''two'' bulletproof vests or the first wouldn't have protected him at that range.

* In the Harry Turtledove AlternateHistory novel ''The Guns of the South'' a Confederate soldier is surprised when one of the time travellers survives a musket ball to the chest because of what he calls a 'flak jacket'.

* In the Alex Rider book ''Snakehead'', Ash reveals that his entire team was wearing bulletproof vests, and the mission completely went wrong because when Yassen shot him in the chest, he got back up. Yassen, being smarter than the average bear, then proceeds to shoot the rest of the team in the head. And then Ask screwed up the mission even more.

* Subverted in ''Lost''. Ben shoots Charlotte and she is saved by her vest. Despite this, she is knocked unconscious, suffers extreme injuries from the impact and is in a lot of pain from getting hit with a bullet.

* ''SWAT 4'' has you and your team wear light Kevlar vests and helmets by default, and the expansion pack allows you to use Heavy or even no armor in multiplayer. Suspects get armor too in some missions, but due to the game being big on realism, said body armors are only marginally effective in most situations.

* A certain type of soldier in ''BlakeStone: Aliens of Gold'' wears a bullet-proof vest; the machine-gun-like guns are the only weapons that can hurt them. And even then, the first burst only knocks them down, and you have to wait until they get up to finish them off. Makes you wonder what ''Blake's'' wearing...
* Huge, heavy, and customized battle armor is worn by both Rios and Salem in ''ArmyOfTwo.''
** Which also includes steel masks to protect the face.

** The term "proof" historically referred to being tested (as in proof reading), not being invulnerable -- indeed, it is so statistically difficult to say that any piece of armor is guaranteed to stop a give bullet that vests usually report what test loadings the vest has a 50% chance of stopping. The shift in meaning has lead to conscientious makers and writers calling the vests "bullet resistant".

Movie bulletproof vests [[NotTheIntendedUse may also stop blades, ice picks, or similar weapons]]; however, in real life, armor vests intended only for protection against bullets are ineffective against stabbing. This is because the armor uses high-strength fiber cloth to spread out the impact of a bullet, but the point and edge of a knife can slip between the weave of the fabric and cut it open.

* Most modern incarnations of Comicbook/{{Batman}} have him wear batsuits that are essentially advanced suits of lightweight armor that also allow him to be as nimble as he ever is. Furthermore, in the classic comic, ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'', the yellow ellipse bat chest symbol is explained as a psychological lure for criminals to shoot at his heavy chest armor and away from his head. Why he tends to wear a similarly bright yellow belt has never been explained.

* Bulletproof armor is much older than [[OlderThanTheyThink most people think]]. Back in the Middle Ages, the invention of fire arms didn't immediately end knights in shiny armor. Blacksmiths actually shot their own armor, showing their customers that the armor would protect them. However, the thicker and thicker armor needed to protect knights from small fire kept getting heavier and heavier. Armor was fazed out, not because it was ineffective, it was just too heavy and expensive.

* Manga/DesertPunk uses quite a bit of armor.
* Kirei Kotomine in ''Literature/FateZero'' is shown to have bullet-proof priest robes (they're reinforced with Kevlar), which shows just how CrazyPrepared he is for hunting enemy magi.

* [[spoiler:Hei]]'s coat in ''Anime/DarkerthanBlack'' is bulletproof.

* Other instances can be explained by the fact that Frank has unbelievable pain tolerance.

* In ''SnakesOnAPlane'', the witness is wearing a bulletproof vest, which later comes in handy.
* Subverted in ''{{Robocop}}''. Lt. Murphy, wearing full body armor plus a Kevlar helmet, is shot dozens of times. While the vest and helmet stop the bullets, the force behind the bullets causes severe internal injuries, [[spoiler:mostly]] killing him and leaving a perfect test subject for the Robocop program.

* ''LethalWeapon'' series
** In ''LethalWeapon'' Riggs is apparently killed during a drive-by shooting and does the "vest reveal" bit to explain his survival.
** In ''LethalWeapon 3'', the plot revolves around the sale of "cop killer" bullets that pierce through police armor. In one scene, a character survives by simply wearing ''two'' vests on top of each other.

* A fantasy version appears in ''LordOfTheRings'', in the Mines of Moria. Frodo appears to be fatally stabbed by a cave troll, but soon after reveals that he's wearing an impenetrable shirt of {{mithril}} beneath his coat. This also happens in the book, though he is stabbed by an orc and suffers a greater injury from the impact.

* The film ''MissingInAction'' features an on-the-run ChuckNorris buying a large raft-like speedboat made from "the same stuff that BulletProofVests are made of". The salesman demonstrates this by getting into his handy-dandy rotating turret machine gun and putting a few hundred rounds into it, not getting a scratch on it. In reality, some boats are made from such material, but are hardly bulletproof. ChuckNorris heroically steals the super-boat by [[BallisticDiscount holding up the salesman with his own turret gun]] and forcing him to accept a nominal sum.
* Notably averted in ''BlackHawkDown'', when the US soldiers remove the reinforced steel plate from their kevlar body armor before the mission to lighten their load. Because past experience had led them to assume that they would not be fired upon, the soldiers chose to sacrifice protection for maneuverability. Ultimately they find themselves in a heavy fire-fight and suffer casualties that might have been prevented by the steel plating. Ultimately the real event helped create a restructuring of military policy that prohibits soldiers in combat zones from leaving behind their assigned equipment, though some still do.

* In ''TrainingDay'', where one of the crooked cops is shot in the bulletproof vest in order to set up a crime scene. Unfortunately, they realize a few seconds later that some bullets got through the vest. Since Alonzo is a dick, he insists they finish getting their stories straight before doing anything about it.

* In ''Lucky Number Slevin'', [[spoiler:Lindsey]] appears to have been shot and killed by Goodkat, but it turns out she knew he was coming for her, and was wearing a bulletproof vest and a couple of blood packs for protection. Justified, in that Goodkat thought she would be unprotected and was using relatively small calibre ammunition, and in that [[spoiler:Lindsey]] was very, very sore afterwards.
* ''{{Shooter}}''. FBI agent Nick Memphis is shot by a sniper, then (after Bob Lee counter-snipes the shooter) gets up and removes a steel trauma plate from under his overcoat, saying "I think I broke a rib." Snipers aim for center of mass, especially at such ranges, so Memphis must have relied on the professional sniper being able to hit him accurately.

* The final battle scene in ''MrAndMrsSmith'' has both protagonists take multiple bursts from submachine guns and close-range rocket strikes and they suffer almost no ill effects whatsoever. These vests are borderline {{Pocket Protector}}s as neither character takes any hits to their arms or legs.

* {{Lampshaded}} in ''DumbAndDumber'' when Harry is shot by the villain, gets up and reveals the vest, and Lloyd immediately asks "What if he shot you in the face?" The cops blithely respond that that was a risk they were willing to take.
* In ''InTheLineOfFire'', Frank takes a bullet for the President, but survives as he was wearing a bulletproof vest. However, he does get a few cracked ribs.

* In ''TheDevilsRejects'' opening shootout scene, [[spoiler:Sheriff Wydell]] takes either a shot from a rifle, shotgun, or revolver to his vest outside his uniform. It merely knocks him back slightly. He looks pissed, shakes it off and keeps up with his assault. Some of the Fireflys themselves wear homemade full body armor out of sheets of metal, complete with helmet. This might be based on the historical Kelly Gang's homemade armor.
* Several characters in ''TheAdventuresOfPlutoNash'' wear bulletproof undershirts under their clothing. These include Pluto himself, [[spoiler:the robot Bruno]], and [[spoiler:[[BigBad Rex Crater]].]]

* in ''SavingPrivateRyan'', a soldier's helmet is grazed by a bullet, he takes it off to gape at the hole... and gets a second bullet in the forehead. To be fair, though, the second bullet would have killed him anyway, seeing as how WWII (and modern) helmets primarily protected against fragmentation.
* Subverted in ''ThreeDaysOfTheCondor''. A CIA clerk who is a friend of the protagonist Turner is asked to help bring him in for debriefing and is issued a bulletproof vest "just in case". In reality the meeting is a set-up to kill Turner -- when it goes wrong the wounded killer aims carefully and [[YouKnowTooMuch shoots the clerk in the throat]].

* Leo McCarthy from ''FXTheSeries'' stated that a bulletproof vest would not help against the sniper that he's trying to catch.

* In ''TwinPeaks'', Agent Cooper's life is saved by a bullet-proof vest, although he is wounded by one of the bullets because he had pulled the vest up to get at a wood-tick. He describes the experience as "the sensation of having three bowling-balls dropped onto your chest from a height of about nine feet."

* ''{{Firefly}}'' plays this one just about to the letter. During a gunfight in the pilot the second in command goes down hard from what looks to be a shotgun blast and is out for awhile, but later comes to and manages to shoot a fleeing villain. As she's getting up she grunts "Armor's dented" but shows no ill effects and is able to ride a horse back to their ship just fine.

* ''Series/{{NCISLosAngeles}}'' Averted in "Parley." The criminal assisting them is gunned down and shown to be wearing a bulletproof vest. While the vest clearly stopped the bullet, she is still badly injured and unable to get up, requiring the agents to call an ambulance for her.

* A rare lapse of realism in ''{{Forbrydelsen}}'' [[spoiler:in the second-season finale. Lund gets shot '''three times at point-blank range''' while faking ExpositionVictim to bait the murderer, and five minutes later is mobile enough to knock them out from behind.]]

In [[CombatTropes military or combat fiction]], the bullet proof vest goes hand-in-hand with the Kevlar helmet. Any character who removes his helmet when a gunfight has seemingly stopped automatically takes a round in the head. A common way for the military RedShirt to bite it.

In fiction, a bullet proof vest is capable of stopping anything up to including armor-piercing bullets. The shot might knock you down and leave you with a hole in your shirt, but you'll get up just fine. In games, vests either stop all damage or reduce it, but are often destroyed when they take enough damage. Video game injuries are a matter of mathematical equation, whereas in RealLife there is a great deal of randomness involved.

* In all three editions of ''Manga/BattleRoyale'' (Book, film and manga) the bullet proof vest acts as one of the strongest items in the event, saving the lives of the people who carry it numerous times. In the manga this is treated reasonably well, in that when hit with a shotgun (at long range) it hurts quite a bit, the wearer obviously bleeding through the ruined vest. One scene earlier on when the vest takes a close range shot with a .45 caliber revolver with no effect is a little less defensible.

** Played straight and slightly averted during the MAX arc ''Up is Down and Black is White'', where the Punisher survives being shot at near point blank range by a shotgun with no apparent serious injuries due to his bullet proof vest. Averted in the sense that although it didn't kill him, it ''hurt like hell'', and it leaves him completely unable to move until help arrived.

* In Robert Kirkman's ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'', there is a fairly realistic portrayal of a bullet proof vest in action. Glenn is shot with a shotgun at fairly close range while wearing a suit of riot gear (including the vest) and while he does survive, he is injured quite badly with broken ribs and possible internal bleeding.

* In ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', Doc Brown gets shot up at the beginning of the movie. After Marty {{time travel}}s back to the 1955, he keeps trying to warn him, but Doc refuses, citing the integrity of the space-time continuum. Marty travels back to the present... just in time to see Doc get shot again. Marty runs over, mourning him... but, of course, Doc finally took the warning, and was wearing a Bullet Proof Vest. In the third movie, GenreSavvy Marty hides a stove door under his shirt to survive a gun duel, in homage to ''A Fistful of Dollars.''

* In the beginning of ''Series/AlienNation'', Sykes and his partner interrupt an armed robbery. One crook starts shooting a shotgun at the partner, who's not only wearing a bullet proof vest but is also crouched behind a car. With all that protection he should be safe, right? The shotgun's shots go right through the car ''and'' the guy's vest, killing him. Sykes later finds out the shotgun was firing special armor piercing slugs. Later, Sykes gets a gigantic revolver and puts a kevlar vest over his shooting range target, blowing holes straight through it.

* In ''Lucky Number Slevin'', [[spoiler:Lindsey]] appears to have been shot and killed by Goodkat, but it turns out she knew he was coming for her, and was wearing a bullet proof vest and a couple of blood packs for protection. Justified, in that Goodkat thought she would be unprotected and was using relatively small calibre ammunition, and in that [[spoiler:Lindsey]] was very, very sore afterwards.

* Near the end of ''DeathWish3'', the gang leader had a bullet proof after Paul shot a full round of bullets at him. When he points the gun at the chief, Paul grabs the mini bazooka and fires at him.

* In the remake of ''New PoliceStory'', Jackie Chan's character takes a gunshot point-blank to the chest while negotiating with a hostage taker, and is able to take the guy down immediately after. Subverted immediately after, in which it's indicated that he was [[CrazyPrepared lucky he was wearing]] ''two'' bullet proof vests or the first wouldn't have protected him at that range.

** Spider silk is impressive stuff. Bullet proof vests woven from almost any sort of silk-like material would put steel and kevlar to shame... but such materials are still totally impractical to make in bulk at the moment.

* ''Literature/FateZero'' revealed that, in the NasuVerse, Church Executioners wear bullet proof ''priest robes''.

** Another episode plays with it, where toward the end O'Neill, who was clearly wearing a vest, is shot in the arm to prevent him from capturing an escaped Goa'uld. Carter reaches him, and O'Neill groans that next time, he wants sleeves on his bullet proof vest.

-->'''Morgan''': I got shot in my bullet proof vest babygirl, I'm fine.
-->'''Garcia''': Why don't they make better vests? That's not bullet proof. It's like when you fall in the pool and your watch stops working, that's water ''resistant'' not water ''proof''-

* The bullet proof vests available in ''{{GURPS}}'' do not inspire confidence, but they can make the difference between dead and dying.

* The ''VideoGame/RainbowSix'' franchise plays the bullet proof vest trope fairly realistically, even in the more action oriented games, such as Vegas. Light body armor will not save a player from most types of gunfire, and armor that can reliably stop bullets is bulky and slows the wearer down.

** Later on there's a [[http://sluggy.com/daily.php?date=061108 bit of discussion]] about the difference between "bullet proof" and "knife proof" vests.

* Subverted for the most part in SurvivalOfTheFittest; while bullet proof vests appear rather often they tend to be treated very realistically, and indeed, in many instances have been no use at all - the foe of the vest's owner just aims for the head for the most part or the vest just has no effect. However, this is also played straight in the case of Shannon [=McLocke=], who takes a close range shotgun blast to the chest and gets up with barely a scratch. Bobby Jacks also takes a carbine round to the chest and gets up relatively unharmed a minute or two later in v3, but the carbine used weak enough ammunition for this to be justified.
* In FanFic/TheReturn Darkstar's [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampires Brood]] are eventually convinced to replace their {{Stripperiffic}} [[http://florestica.com/jtemple/art/return/ds02.jpg outfits]] with more [[http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y44/sunshinetemple/FanArt_not_on_site/Ranma_new-armor2.jpg sensible ones]] with bullet proofing.

** Its actually worth noting that this is less impressive than it sounds. Boron carbide isn't the third -strongest- material, it is the third -hardest- material. Unfortunately, hardness does not necessarily good body armor (or anything) make - while something may be hard, it may not be especially strong. Diamonds are a case in point - while they are fairly resilient, they will shatter where something like steel or titanium would bend but remain intact. Now, having a shattered bullet proof vest means having very hard knives in [[BodyHorror in who ever was wearing it]].

* Bullet proof armor is much older than [[OlderThanTheyThink most people think]]. Back in the Middle Ages, the invention of fire arms didn't immediately end knights in shiny armor. Blacksmiths actually shot their own armor, showing their customers that the armor would protect them. However, the thicker and thicker armor needed to protect knights from small fire kept getting heavier and heavier. Armor was fazed out, not because it was ineffective, it was just too heavy and expensive.

----

** U.S. soldiers in Iraq have reported being hit by rifle fire and not knowing they were hit, due to the modern heavy body armor they are wearing. Many injuries are due to explosives, which pierce the armor, or more often, damage parts of the body which are not protected. The force of the blast also is not reduced by much, which can cause brain damage when the brain is bruised against the skull.