Insurance to help ‘get away with murder’
Business booming for services offering Americans peace of mind if they shoot someone in self-defence
WASHINGTON— James Cook, father of two young girls, has insurance for a house fire, insurance for a car accident, insurance for a health problem.
For the past two years, he has also had insurance for shooting someone.
Cook, a 32-year-old defence lawyer in Colorado, has no plans to shoot anyone.
But he is armed with a concealed handgun everywhere he goes except court.
And he wants to be prepared for the minuscule possibility that he will have to fire it in self-defence.
If the day ever comes, he will call 911. And then, right after, he will call the 24-hour hotline number on a membership card he keeps in his wallet.
Like several hundred thousand U.S. gun owners, Cook now subscribes to a service that promises him immediate legal and financial protection for a shooting he can reasonably argue to be justified.
For just over $10 a month, U.S. Law Shield pledges to get him a good lawyer for “zero” money. Compared to the legal fees George Zimmerman faced after he killed Trayvon Martin in 2012, more than $1.5 million, Cook thinks it’s a bargain.
“If I was in that position, and I had to foot that legal bill, there’s absolutely no way I could ever come close to paying for that. I’d sell my house, get rid of all my property and I’d still be $1.1 million short on it,” he said. “So the reason it’s there is definitely a good one.”
U.S. Law Shield subscriber Nicholas White, 23, who works in pharmaceutical distribution in Georgia, said that even if he lives 80 more years, “it’d still be a fraction of the cost of actually having to face a court settlement of some sort.”
The insurance-like services, most of which were created in the past five years, are little known outside the gun community. But their popularity appears to be booming with the explosive growth of “concealed carry” itself — alarming gun-control advocates who believe they will make gun owners both more likely to pull the trigger and to avoid consequences.
“Basically, this insurance is helping people get away with murder. And nothing short,” said Geraldine Hills, founder of Arizonans for Gun Safety, whose brother was murdered.
Hills was especially critical of the advice the services offer. The wallet card provided by the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, which claims to have more than 100,000 subscribers, includes a four-point script for what to do and say after a shooting.
Item one: “Call 911 — ‘I was attacked, and was forced to defend myself. Please send the police and an ambulance.’ ” Item four: “Make Only This Statement to the Police: ‘I WANT MY LAWYER PRESENT BEFORE I ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS, AND UNTIL THEN, I INVOKE MY RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT.’ ”
The association’s “platinum” package promises to cover up to $1million in legal fees and civil damages, plus “immediate bail bonding up to $10,000” and “interrogation and grand jury protection up to $125,000.”
“All weapons covered,” its website says. “You shouldn’t have to think twice about protecting your family, whether it be with a firearm, knife, or your own two hands.”
University of Miami law professor Mary Anne Franks said the “quite chilling” language deployed by these services is “priming people to look for situations where they can use their gun and not worry about any of the consequences after.”
Rather than emphasizing de-escalation and non-lethal defence, she said, “What they’re saying is: ‘Do this risky thing, this risky thing that could be avoided, and then we’ll help you.’ ”
The proliferation of the insurance comes as gun rights are expanding in much of the country. Over the past decade, a majority of states have passed “stand your ground” laws that allow gun owners to use deadly force against a threat without retreating first. Since 2013, concealed carry has been legal in every state.
All together, Franks said, the legislative changes and the insurance “are creating situations where people are much more willing to use deadly force than they would have been.”
“All of this ideology encourages people to get extremely comfortable with the idea of killing someone,” she said. Some gun control advocates, though, have urged lawmakers to make gun insurance mandatory, partly because it would ensure shooting victims were able to collect on court judgments.
Dennis Henigan, a former executive at the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said gun insurance is generally “a good idea and probably should be required as a condition of a (concealed carry) permit or even required for a permit to own a gun.”
So far, there has been only one widely reported case of someone actually using one of the services after a shooting. As reported by the Tampa Bay Times, Nick Julian IV, 26, killed unarmed Carlos Garcia, 37, after an ar- gument over loud music Garcia was playing.
Julian left the scene of argument, then went back to his house to get his gun. After he called 911, he partly echoed the script on his U.S. Concealed Carry Association card, telling the operator: “He attacked me and I had to use force. I was afraid for my life.” He then called the association hotline.
None of the companies responded to requests for comment.
Five gun owners who subscribe, though, said the insurance does not make them any more eager to shoot. They are extremely cautious, they said, and are paying only for peace of mind.
“Just because you have homeowners insurance doesn’t mean you play with matches,” said Jason, 26, an information technology employee for a large corporation in Colorado; he asked that his last name be withheld.
“The only thing it really changes is: I do sleep better at night,” said Blaine, 31, who teaches gun safety classes in Atlanta and moderates a concealed carry forum on Reddit.
“It’s not going to change my practices of self-awareness, it’s not going to change my practices in shoot-don’t shoot scenarios. It’s not going to change how I carry a firearm. It’s only going to allow me to keep my house in the event that the worst happens.”