Gun liability insurance: Make it mandatory?
By Marcie Geffner • Bankrate.com
Should owners of firearms be required to carry gun liability insurance to cover the potential risks their weapons pose?
Or do law-abiding gun owners instead need protection from insurers who may charge them more for home and auto coverage or even deny them coverage when they "keep and bear arms"?
Florida outlaws insurer gun bias
In Florida, gun advocates have gone a step further and reframed the gun insurance debate. They maintain that instead of needing the protection of insurance, gun owners need protection from insurance companies -- which might charge them more or refuse them home or auto coverage for owning firearms.
The Florida Legislature agreed and recently passed a bill banning this practice, despite scant evidence that it even exists. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott.
Do insurers discriminate against gun owners?
"No -- that bill is trying to prevent something that isn't even happening now," says McChristian. "It's been labeled a solution in search of a problem, because there is no problem."
Matt Carlucci, a veteran State Farm insurance agent in Jacksonville, Florida, agrees. He calls the bill "a tempest in a teapot" stirred up by the gun lobby as a "pre-emptive" move in response to calls for mandatory gun liability insurance.
Read more: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/insurance/gun-liability-insu...
By Marcie Geffner • Bankrate.com
Should owners of firearms be required to carry gun liability insurance to cover the potential risks their weapons pose?
Or do law-abiding gun owners instead need protection from insurers who may charge them more for home and auto coverage or even deny them coverage when they "keep and bear arms"?
Florida outlaws insurer gun bias
In Florida, gun advocates have gone a step further and reframed the gun insurance debate. They maintain that instead of needing the protection of insurance, gun owners need protection from insurance companies -- which might charge them more or refuse them home or auto coverage for owning firearms.
The Florida Legislature agreed and recently passed a bill banning this practice, despite scant evidence that it even exists. The bill was signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott.
Do insurers discriminate against gun owners?
"No -- that bill is trying to prevent something that isn't even happening now," says McChristian. "It's been labeled a solution in search of a problem, because there is no problem."
Matt Carlucci, a veteran State Farm insurance agent in Jacksonville, Florida, agrees. He calls the bill "a tempest in a teapot" stirred up by the gun lobby as a "pre-emptive" move in response to calls for mandatory gun liability insurance.
Read more: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/insurance/gun-liability-insu...
