Back in the late 80's, I (stupidly) volunteered to take some rounds while wearing Second Chance body armor as part of a LE demonstration and seminar.The Annoyed Man wrote: Body armor isn't a panacea either. Ask someone who's been shot up close whether it hurt or not. It can the wind out of you. A double tap into body armor can drive you to your knees if it hurts enough.
The double-tap from the 9mm--plain 115FMJ, not souped up +P or anything like that--took me to my knees INSTANTLY. It felt like I'd been kicked by my old roping horse square in the chest. I was incapacitated on the spot.
The single shot from the 45ACP 230 round ball. . . I honestly thought I was dying such was the pain of the impact. It took all wind out of me and I had a difficult time regaining my breath--so much so that the paramedics and doctor who were there put the oxygen on me.
The bruising was ungodly and severe and I was sore to the touch for better than two weeks. What the body armor does is keep the bullet from penetrating and tearing your guts up and thus having you bleed out. It does absolutely zilch for negating any of the impact.
All this Hollywood garbage you see about bad guys wearing body armor and barely even flinching when taking a round is one-hundred percent bunk.
I'll guarantee you that had someone in that Aurora theater double-tapped this joker coward, he would've dropped his guns, fell to the floor and wailed and screamed like a jilted prom queen, end of story.
JD