Mass. Bill Would Require Gun Insurance

Some lawmakers are hoping the insurance market might offer the best incentives to lessen firearms-related violence. A bill filed on Jan. 18 in Massachusetts would require gun owners to purchase liability insurance in the event their gun is used to injure.

Supporters say insurance policies would give those injured by a weapon a legal recourse while also creating market-based incentives that could reduce accidents and fatalities. Gun owners could see their insurance costs drop, say, if they agreed to take firearms training course and properly stored their weapons.

“Insurance companies were able to discourage smoking through the marketplace and make cars safer through the marketplace,” said state Rep. David Linsky, the bill’s sponsor.

And insurers have more leeway than law enforcement in some cases, he said.

Linsky said he purposely left vague the details about what level of insurance would be required or whether existing homeowner’s insurance policies that cover guns in the home would suffice.

The idea is already meeting with resistance for gun rights advocates, who say it amounts to more government regulation aimed at law-abiding gun owners.

Craig Baenziger, who works at a gun-seller in North Attleboro, Mass., said requiring liability insurance for guns makes little sense because it targets people who buy the weapons legally instead of going after criminals who illegally possess them.

Officials at the National Conference of State Legislatures say to their knowledge no state has yet adopted the requirement.