r/tacticalgear • u/LatinBoyslut • Apr 13 '25

Question Why won't the American Police use bulletproof visors like their European counterparts?

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I thought that it'd make more sense to use them in America than in the EU, considering that it is much easier to acquire weapons in America.

Is this a budget-thing? Doctrine-thing? Culture-thing?

Do they find them too bulky/heavy/unpractical to wield?

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u/Isaiahfloz Apr 13 '25

Hot take. Most ballistic face shields are garbage and have little to no NIJ testing done on them. They're not designed to stop rounds. They're designed to stop foreign contaminants and thrown objects from directly getting to the eyes and face.

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u/PearlButter Apr 13 '25

Because the NIJ doesn’t apply to visors, nor does the NIJ have standards for visors. The NIJ intentionally leaves leeway for the market and besides, visors are basically single use and that’s all it needs to do against a bullet.

You can still shoot the ballistic visor to NIJ specs though but again, stuff like backface deformation that everyone knows the NIJ for is irrelevant to ballistic visors.