A Guide to Firearm Insurance: What Gun Owners Should Know

If you have a firearm collection, use a firearm around your rural homestead, or carry a sidearm for self-defense, firearm insurance can protect your investment and financial health. There are several types of gun insurance available, and each one provides a different type of protection. Whether you’re looking for a first gun at Pennsylvania’s Largest Gun Show or filling up the last few spots in your safe, property and liability risks need to be on your mind. Understanding the insurance you need and your available options helps mitigate your risks as a gun owner. 

Insurance: When You Need It, You Really Need It

Insurance companies make money by taking in more money than they spend, just like every business. When you don’t end up needing their protection, it can feel like money wasted. When you do need it, however, it’s most often because things have gone sideways in a pretty catastrophic manner, especially when you’re talking about firearm insurance. The three most common classes of insurance covering your guns are liability, legal costs, and property coverage.

Liability Insurance: Protection from Damages

Liability coverage, whether car, homeowners, or firearm insurance, helps defray costs when an injury or damage occurs through your fault. This is good coverage to have if you keep a house gun for use around your rural property, own guns for hunting, or carry a gun for self-defense. If you were to hurt someone accidentally, liability insurance helps cover their medical costs or property damage. 

Legal Cost Coverage: Protection for a Litigious Society

This kind of firearm insurance is designed to help you with legal costs resulting from legal gun ownership and usage. This is especially important if you carry a gun for self-defense, where you could be sued by bystanders, businesses, or even an assailant, depending on the firearms legislation in the jurisdiction where an incident occurs. This coverage often includes connecting you to an attorney specializing in firearms or self-defense cases and a portion of the legal costs to protect your Second Amendment Rights.

Property Coverage: Protection from Financial Loss

Property coverage reimburses you for the cost of your firearms in the event they are lost due to theft, fire, or other events.  This usually caps out at either a percentage or a total maximum amount. If you have a high-value firearms collection, however, this gun insurance may not be enough on its own. You may need to either add a collectible rider or seek additional collectibles coverage to make sure your entire collection is covered for loss.

Evaluating Your Firearm Insurance Needs

• Value of Your Guns – Firearms are expensive, which makes them a significant investment in terms of money, let alone the time involved. That also makes them high-priority targets for thieves. Understanding the value of your collection will help you ensure you have enough firearm insurance to help with a loss without overpaying for coverage beyond the actual replacement or repair value of your weapons.
• Carry or Collection – Your firearm insurance needs may change depending on if you plan on carrying a gun with you. While safe queens may get away with just property protection, liability and legal coverage can be a good idea when you’re a frequent hunter or carry open or concealed for protection.

• Existing Coverage – Check your existing insurance products to find out if and to what extent they may cover your firearms. For example, renters’ and homeowners’ policies frequently carry a limited amount of property protection for firearms, but there may be stipulations you’ll have to meet.
• Maximums – Your firearm insurance policy’s maximum benefit is the absolute most that it will pay out under any conditions under the policy. When buying your gun insurance policy, you will want to make sure this covers the value of the firearms it may need to replace (in the case of property coverage), or the amount you think will provide you the amount of financial protection you are comfortable with (with legal cost and liability insurance). After the maximum amount has been paid, any remaining costs fall to you.
• Deductibles – When a policy has a deductible, there is a portion of the cost you have to pay for a covered incident before the insurance company starts paying. This amount is separate from your premium, which is the cost you pay to receive coverage in the first place.
• Terms, Conditions, and Exclusions – Before buying gun insurance, make sure you know when it covers you, under what circumstances the coverage is triggered, and when an event is excluded from coverage. While these are usually straightforward, watch out for terms like “due to acts of God” or “Due to Criminal Activity.” The last thing you want is to find out your lost collection isn’t covered under flood or theft when you intended for it to cover both types of occurrences.

Don’t Forget to Add Your New Guns to Your Coverage

When you buy a new gun at your local gun show, take the time to make sure it’s covered under your insurance. Some policies cover any gun you own, in which case, you just need to make sure your coverage limits are still sufficient with the added value of your purchase. It’s also a good idea to keep a record somewhere safe that has a list of your guns, serial numbers, and any applicable pictures as proof for the insurance adjusters if you need to file a claim.

Order Your Gun Show Tickets Today

The next event on our gun show calendar is coming soon. Circle the date, do your research, and get ready to make a deal. Order your tickets online to your local Eagle Shows Gun Show today.