What to do About Insuring a Gun Collection
By John Ross

Copyright 2007 by John Ross. Electronic reproduction of this article freely permitted provided it is reproduced in its entirety with attribution given.

I am often asked about the best way to insure a gun collection. Many people advise insurance through the NRA or some other place that "specializes" in insuring guns. I have to say I disagree with the people who recommend this or any other type of add-on insurance. It is much too expensive per dollar of coverage.

What you want is not separate firearms coverage but a homeowners policy that DOES NOT HAVE A GUN EXCLUSION. Get "Replacement cost contents, all risks" on your homeowners policy from a company that sells a policy without a gun exclusion.

A company will sell different policies with different names, like "Prestige Plus" or "Platinum" or whatever. Different policies exclude different things. (Cash is always excluded, or excluded above a small maximum amount. Jewelry is also.) I had a policy once which for some reason excluded anything aviation-specific. The only things I had like that were two parachutes and two headsets, but if they had been stolen or destroyed in a fire they would not have been covered. Excluded items like jewelry must carry separate (expensive) riders in order to be covered. Find a policy that DOES NOT EXCLUDE GUNS.

Typically the contents on a homeowner’s policy are half the replacement cost of the house, but you can get them to make it more by paying a slightly higher premium.

Example: Your house would cost $200,000 to replace on the existing lot if it were completely destroyed, so you have a $200,000 homeowner’s policy. You are typically covered for another $100,000 worth of contents loss due to theft, fire, tornado, etc. If there is no gun exclusion on your policy, it can be up to $100,000 worth of guns. If your gun collection and the other contents of your house are together worth more than half the value of your house, get a quote for a policy on a higher contents value, if a single event could cause you to lose all of your guns and everything else at once.

If it’s written as a REPLACEMENT COST CONTENTS, ALL RISKS policy (which is what you want,) that means if you take your expensive double rifle to Africa and it gets lost/stolen/confiscated/falls in the river, it’s covered for whatever it takes to replace it. Same deal if your vehicle is stolen with a bunch of guns in it while you’re eating a meal in a roadside restaurant on a cross-country trip. (The guns are covered by your homeowner’s policy, the vehicle needs its own policy, obviously.) Ditto shipping guns to a gunsmith for repair or modification, or shipping guns ahead by common carrier to some other place you want to shoot them. Don’t pay UPS for insurance--the guns are already covered.

I was covered in this fashion for 15 years by one major company, then my agent had me switch to another two years ago because he found a policy for me with more coverage at less cost.

Take good digital photos of every gun you own and keep a file in case anything is stolen or otherwise lost. (Digital means you won’t get some mouth-breather at the photofinishers blabbing about you.)

If your agent can’t find you an "all risks, replacement cost contents policy" with no gun exclusion at a decent price, email me at jrinvest@earthlink.net and I’ll set you up with an agent who can.

John Ross 6/02/2003

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