Insurance

[Lobo]

As others have pointed out, anyone can sue anyone else at any time. But once the lawsuit is filed the defendant must defend against the action, otherwise face judgement by default. Legal defense generally requires attorneys, and attorneys do not work for free.

One of the major advantages of carrying liability insurance is that the insurance company will handle the legal defense. Of course, their attorneys will be working primarily to shield the insurance company from exposure, but the defendant's interests are generally the same as the insurance company's.

Pre-trial defense expenses can easily rise into the tens of thousands of dollars. Actually going to trial will cost even more. Plaintiffs' attorneys understand this very well; they know that most cases will be settled out of court by payment of an amount perceived as being less than defense costs (commonly refered to as "nuisance" settlements).

Without insurance you remain on the hook for all expenses, win or lose.

Pay the insurance premiums and you can worry less.

[St8LineGunsmith]

Try it one handed while fighting someone off of you. That's what I suggest to most folks that carry unchambered. Most SD shootings are close and fast. There not much of a chance you will actually need a gun in SD. But if you do, my guess is there is a good chance at least one hand is occupied when you need it. But to each their own. Just food for thought.

I dont want to start a big debate on gun safety but there is no reason to go around carrying your firearm cocked and locked there are many times I felt potential danger where I un holster my weapon, chamber a round inconspicuously as possible put it on safe then reholster the weapon.

I have been in stores where I felt potental danger so I went to the bathroon and racked a round.

even if the gun is empty it is a loaded gun I treat all of my guns as if they are loaded.

when I was in my 20's I had to shoot a home invasion intruder who broke in while were all asleep I wont go into all the details because it is still disturbing even after all this time but is still the number one reason why I carry.

the gun was a Colt .45 and it was unchambered until it needed to be chambered so that SD scenario don't work with all situations and it was a life or death situation because I was staring down the barrel of the perps gun when I shot and killed him.

most of my friends carry cocked and locked I don't see the purpose or need for that practice.

more food for thought is the only way a gun can accidentally be discharged is if there is a round already chambered, guns cant load themselves.

[Ed in Tx]

All one needs to do it watch television for a few hours and you will see several advertisements for lawyers willing to file a lawsuit for just about anything. It is really sad in my opinion that so many individuals in our society want to place blame on someone else rather than accept responsibility for their own actions.

We would all be a lot better off if we had a few less lawyers and more people willing to be accountable for their own stupidity.

[BDAZ]

But think of the thousands of lawyers that would be pan handling at intersections, clogging up the homeless shelters and wolfing down welfare.

Tragic!

Bob

[chrstn53]

Since the beginning of time there have always been swindlers and scammers trying to get something for nothing. In the current times it's even worse because people seem to want to push the blame away from themselves and in most cases truly believe that what ever incident occurred had nothing to do with their own stupidity or neglect. But it also goes both ways, usually when a company or person tries to cut corners. About 8 years ago I took several business law classes and we did extensive case studies of previous judged cases and reviewed a case against an actually small batch leatherworker. In a brief summary the case was over a man who purchased a dog collar for his purebred high dollar dog from a local leather worker. The plaintiff was walking his dog and the dog got anxious and tried to run after something it spotted. The dog was pulling away from the owner and the collar broke apart resulting in the dog being run over by a car and eventually dying. The plaintiff found a swanky lawyer who was also a pretty well know saddle maker in that area. As I recall the collar maker used a single jiffy rivet after the dee ring and buckle. The lawyer was able to demonstrate that at low stress pulls that the low quality jiffy rivet would pop off and they also had an advertisement from the leatherworker which stated that he used the highest quality hardware in his dog collars and that they should last a lifetime with normal use. If I remember correctly the plaintiff was awarded well over $30,000 for the dog, hospital bills and damages. With the famous McDonald's case they kept their coffee 30 degrees hotter than the industry standard so the coffee would last longer resulting in less pots being pored out and being remade. I only mention the cases above because it shows that in some instances that saving a few bucks and cutting corners could really cost you in the end. In my opinion anyone who produces something that will be in turn sold to the public should have some sort of liability insurance. The man who made the dog collars probably sold hundreds of them with out incident but when one of his collars broke it cost him big time. Also who knows, maybe the dog ran out of the house when the man opened the door and got run over. Possibly the man got home and realized that he will be getting a vet bill for several thousand dollars and noticed the recently purchased dog collar on the shelf. Who would know if he picked the collar up and pulled in opposite directions around the bend popping off the jiffy rivets.

[Matt Alsaker]

For those contemplating using personal "umbrella" insurance policies to cover their business venture, you better read the fine print and don't take the word of the agent selling it to you. Most (not all) umbrella policies that are attached to your auto / homeowners polices will not cover business ventures. Every company is different, so read your policy carefully. If it's not clear, get an answer in writing directly from the company underwriting the policy. More likely than not, you'll need to seek out product liability insurance. That's a whole different ball game when you get into anything related to firearms (i.e. holster making).