Public Safety Minister Kash Heed is moving ahead with restrictions on soft body armour that he says has become a status symbol for B.C. gangsters.

It’s the first attempt to restrict the sale of body armour in Canada, Heed said Tuesday after introducing new legislation to require a permit to sell, buy or possess body armour.

Senior police officers don’t expect criminals to apply for permits, but the new law allows officers to seize body armour as they now do with armoured vehicles and restricted weapons they find.

In Vancouver alone, police have encountered people with body armour and no legitimate use for it 230 times since 2002, and incidents are increasing, Heed said. Under current laws, even known gang members can buy body armour from sporting goods or military surplus stores, and police have no authority to take it away.

Police, armoured car guards, prison staff, sheriffs, conservation officers, security guards and private investigators will be exempted from the permit requirement. Heed said he expects “very few” applications for permits, although some will likely be issued to gang associates, if they’re in custody and police say they will be targeted.

Supt. Bill McKinnon, president of B.C. Association of Police Chiefs, acknowledged that restricting sales may force the sale of body armour underground, either in B.C. or by mail-order from out of the country. But the use of it is difficult to conceal and the new law will get it off the streets, he said.

NDP public safety critic Mike Farnworth said he’s pleased to see the government adopt an idea he suggested to them in January.

“It was dismissed as unworkable, as not realistic,” Farnworth said. “The only unfortunate thing in the fact that they have taken so long is that I’ve heard there have been at least 24 separate occasions when the police could have arrested criminals wearing body armour, but weren’t able to do so because the law was not in effect.”

Farnworth said the only part of the legislation he objects to is a six-month “transition period” for sellers and those in possession of body armour after it comes into force.

“I don’t believe in a grace period for criminals,” he said.