It’s our 9th Anniversary!

It’s August again, and that means another anniversary for the Armored Republic®. Nine years ago, AR500 Armor started with the purpose of supplying body armor to law-abiding citizens who want it.  

And want it, they have.

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the past 18 months, it’s been a wild year as the pandemic  has destroyed lives and the government reaction has destroyed the economy and public morale. 

Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely — Lord Acton

The events of last summer may have been a confluence of several things, but last year’s violence is still happening in some locations, but they’re not being covered by anything but local media, if that.

The possibility of a return to mask mandates and renewed lockdowns continues to drive record firearm sales and body armor purchases as people have learned the hard way that they’re responsible for their own safety. 

These events have caused a seismic shift in the normalization of body armor ownership, something that a few years ago would have raised eyebrows. But it’s also allowed us to invest in our own manufacturing capabilities, such that all our hard armor products are now made in our Phoenix, Arizona, facilities. This has dramatically cut lead times for armor products.

It has also allowed us to maintain the price of $65 for our original Level III steel plate. By today’s standards, this may not be as impressive as it was when we introduced it in 2012, when level III plates started at around $500.

The Armored Republic has long preached self-reliance, and the past year has finally demonstrated the need to prepare for a lot of people. The pandemic, potential body armor regulation proposals, and last year’s rioting remind people that unrest isn’t that far away. And while we live in an amazing country with a lot of great things here, bad things can happen no matter where you are. 

So the question then is not how can you intelligently prepare, but how can you not?