Interest in personal liability insurance for firearms owners has expanded with the media focus on gun-centric events and the public discussion on liability issue. While coverage is available through gun owner associations and through specialty insurers, the liability component of homeowners and renters insurance policies offers some protection for gun owners.
Most standard homeowners and renters policies would offer liability coverage for property damage or injuries that occur from accidental discharges of firearms, says Dr. Robert P. Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute. However, he said, “Insurers don’t cover illegal acts, ever, period.”
That’s the problem with proposed legislation being filed in many states, he says. By and large the measures are “proposing gun liability coverage that would be mandatory [and] would also cover acts that were, in effect, illegal in nature.” Aside from illegal acts, most homeowners policies should provide coverage up to the liability limits.
“There is no gun-related exclusion in ISO’s homeowners policy,” says Christopher J. Boggs, director of education at Insurance Journal’s Academy of Insurance. “Carriers may try to use the ‘Expected or Intended Injury Exclusion,’ but even it has an exception for the use of reasonable force to protect people or property. The use of a gun may be reasonable based on the circumstances. And since ‘reasonable’ is not a defined term – a carrier would be hard pressed to tell me my actions were not reasonable.”
In other words, defending one’s self may be an intentional act, but it’s probably covered.
Read More at: http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2013/04/11/288010.htm
