Concealed Carry Insurance
Responsible gun owners now purchase concealed carry insurance, or self defense insurance, along with their weapons. This is now common, just as purchasing homeowners insurance for your home or auto insurance for your vehicle.
As a criminal defense law firm that supports the 2nd Amendment and invokes self-defense frequently, we strongly encourage responsible gun owners to be prepared in the event of criminal charges stemming from discharge of a firearm, or simply from brandishing the firearm to dispel an assault.
Virginia Self Defense & Defending Excessive Use of Force
Legal fees for concealed carry violations, brandishing of a firearm, or a shooting in self defense that results in a death will vary just as the charges vary. Legal fees can range anywhere from $5,000.00 to $150,000.00, depending on the nature of the charges, the legal preparation requirements, and the qualification of the attorneys. Good concealed carry insurnace and self defense insurance will usually cover attorney fees for our law firm.
There are various insurance companies offering “Self Defense Insurance” and “Concealed Carry Insurance.” We have compiled a list of some of these companies:
USCCA: Education, Training And Self-Defense Insurance For Responsible Gun Owners
USCCA offers great legal fee coverage for reasonable attorney fees. They advertise as follows:
Immediate Criminal Defense Attorney Retainer Up To $125,000. You’ll receive this “no-questions-asked” instant criminal defense attorney retainer to help get your criminal defense immediately underway. No “grant committees” or “request processes” are involved with this powerful benefit.
CCW Safe: National Legal Defense Membership for those who carry concealed. We defend those who carry concealed against administrative, criminal and civil actions stemming from a self defense incident.
CCW Safe offers the following explanation of their legal fee insurance structure:
If my attorney retainer cost is $100,000.00 how much more coverage will I have for my criminal defense before I have to pay out of pocket? CCW SAFE Response: CCW Safe has already paid a $100,000.00 retainer for one of its members to have lawyers to defend a murder case following a self-defense incident. This is only the start of legal fees that an experienced trial attorney would charge to take a murder case to the end of trial. There are more court appearances prior to trial in many cases and other fees associated with putting on a strong defense that would double the amount listed above. This is why CCW Safe will never charge you out of pocket expenses associated with the funds needed for your criminal defense or take away an amount because your experienced attorney retainer has reached the expected amount of $100,000.00 for a murder case against you.
CCW Safe covers your legal costs and doesn’t place limits on your defense. Everyone at CCW Safe comes from law enforcement and the company is based on the police union model. We understand the cost of a criminal defense and of a homicide case (justified or self-defense) which can easily exceed six figures. Even an attorney from the leading insurance based company in a recent video stated he “would not touch a homicide for under $50,000” and “to put on a decent murder case, you’re into six figures pretty easily.” He went on to say “a decent criminal defense attorney is always going to build the case with the trial in mind and with the civil suit that may result later in mind. You not only want to win so strongly in criminal court that there’s no question of the person’s innocence, you want to win so strongly that no plaintiff lawyer will feel confident in the results to take that case against your client.” I honestly couldn’t agree more. How you handle the criminal side of the case is critical in preventing and/or winning a civil lawsuit. The immediate concern should be the real cost of a criminal defense. That same insurance based company put up a $50,000 retainer on a very simple and clear case of self-defense case. This is a case where there was no arrest and no charges were brought, and this is the type of case that would have reached the limits of many policies. If the case had produced an actual criminal charge against the member, it seems clear the attorney would have required a minimum $100,000 retainer. This alone would have reached the maximum limits of most products currently available. Rather than debate the issues, I will agree completely with this assessment of how criminal cases should be handled and the importance of the criminal defense to prevent a civil suit. That is why CCW Safe covers your legal defense completely, just like the police unions. Last year, a CCW Safe member was involved in a self-defense shooting. He was charged that same day with 1st degree murder. When our member called the CCW Safe emergency line, he was immediately put in touch with an experienced attorney to provide counsel and, most importantly, this provided our member with a privileged conversation with a lawyer. CCW Safe professionally researched and vetted a great local attorney experienced in use of force and self-defense cases. This attorney was retained for $100,000. CCW Safe responded to his scene with a critical incident response coordinator. This coordinator had over 25-year experience in criminal investigations, from the start of the case until to prosecution. The coordinator worked with the attorneys and the member’s family to make sure all questions were answered and all needs were met. When the judge at the initial appearance set our member’s bond hearing for 30 days later, the local attorney fought to have the bond hearing moved up to the following week and our client was released on $500,000 bond. The coordinator had already made arrangements with a local bond agent, so CCW Safe immediately paid the bond agent’s fee of $50,000 and our member was released. When our coordinator heard that our member’s employer was going to fire him, he met with the company’s executive staff and was able secure a one-year severance package. CCW Safe hired an extremely experienced retired homicide investigator to conduct a thorough investigation at a cost of almost $50,000 alone. The trial is currently set for 2017 and undoubtedly there will be more required by the investigator, along with expert witnesses. It is perfectly reasonable to assume our member’s defense will exceed $300,000. The staff at CCW Safe is not surprised at the cost because we’ve been there ourselves. We understand what must be done to defend a criminal and civil case. Putting a limit on an investigation and defense might mean a person can’t make bond, hire an attorney with actual trial experience, have a thorough investigation conducted or hire an expert witness. The company you choose should truly have an understanding of the cost of criminal defense for the worse case scenario (a homicide charge) and make that part of their plan.
