General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Your unseen gun violence tax. [View all]sarisataka
(18,570 posts)There are two parts to gun insurance, value and liability. They will be (usually) on separate policies and both are currently optional.
Insuring the value of the gun is exactly what it sounds like. The cost to replace it should it be lost/stolen/ destroyed. How a gun is secured may affect the premium for this coverage but the value of the gun is what will determine the premium.
Liability is the other coverage and what most are speaking of when they call for "gun insurance". It has two sub-coverages, payments for damages to other's person or property and payments for legal defense.
Payments to others falls first under your homeowners, then under an umbrella policy if you have one. There are additional policies available for gun owners that are specific to gun related liability and would coordinate with other insurance. Anyone who has homeowners insurance (the term includes condominium and renters policies) likely has at least $100k of liability coverage. Umbrella policies usually start at $1M, gun specific policies are usually at least $500k.
Liability insurance does not take into account if you have a Glock, AK, original Winchester 1873 or a full on Class III automatic weapon. They are insuring the potential action of the person. If the person has had accidents of any sort, not just guns, they will pay more; if they are responsible the coverage is rather inexpensive.
The most common exclusion for liability coverage is "intentional acts". If a person takes their gun out and shoots a random person the insurance is not going to pay the victim, the person who fired the gun will be responsible for paying. Some companies remove this exclusion is a gun is fired in self defense but others do not.
Coverage of legal cost is typically only available on gun specific policies and may or may not come with liability coverage. Some will pay legal defense upfront, others will reimburse you only after a not guilty verdict is returned.