Posted on 07/10/2002 5:50:14 AM PDT by Dick Bachert
Gary Atkinson, a South Carolina businessman and Del Bruno, a Connecticut cop, have had a common problem. When their insurance companies found out that they were involved with guns, they had their insurance coverage canceled.
Del Bruno sought a homeowners policy for his new condo. Just after taking out his policy with Prudential, they wanted a list of his guns and their serial numbers upon learning that he owned firearms. For whatever reason, they decided that the Mossberg 500 was a no-no, and they cancelled his policy.
Prudential was of the opinion that Bruno's shotgun was not a sporting weapon, the only kind they will insure.
Gary Atkinson had been with State Farm for 34 years. He wanted to be sure his homeowners policy was up to date, especially -- as he told his agent's assistant -- since he has a pool and a shooting range on an adjacent property. "A shooting range?" (Forget the fact that pools are more dangerous. The magic word is GUN.)
Atkinson got a call from his agent the next day telling him he had seven days to find a new policy. Then State Farm was going to cancel him. Atkinson brought the agent to the adjacent property to see his range. It is actually rather professional, since Atkinson has heavy equipment, which his company makes. He used the equipment to make berms in front of hills that were already on the property.
Gary got a million dollar liability policy through the NRA to cover the range and offered to sign a total waiver of responsibility for State Farm on any firearm related claims. All of this was to no avail.
After some research, Atkinson learned that State Farm has canceled other people in other parts of the country. It seems they have -- for the agents -- a permissive policy. If the agent wants to cancel a gun owner, they can do so at their own discretion.
Atkinson was told by his agent that no company would insure someone like him. That is when Atkinson found out about Lockton Risk Services in Kansas City, MO (phone: 913-676-9150). They referred him to three insurance companies -- Farm Bureau, Nationwide and American National Property and Casualty.
Gary ended up switching all of his insurance to American National and saving money from what he had been paying State Farm.
One of his last conversations with his State Farm agent involved his discovery that she had the discretion to cancel him, not the requirement to do so. When he told her that he would tell others what State Farm had done to him, she retorted: "What are you going to be able to do by yourself?"
When Gary told me that, I decided that others should know about this anti-self-defense policy at State Farm (and, of course, at Prudential).
Hopefully there is one more reason you may decide to cancel your State Farm Policy -- they are anti-customer in general.
An investigative reporter for New Times found that State Farm has a national policy of underpaying claims. The policy even extends to dragging out lawsuits that any disappointed claimants might file against them in order to increase the cost of litigation to the point of forcing them to settle for less than the policy is worth.
You can go to the web page of Grass Roots South Carolina (www.scfirearms.org) and see the whole story with a very nice piece of artwork to represent Snake Farm Insurance Company.
After you have canceled your Snake Farm insurance policy, you might want to let them know why. Mr. Edward Rust is the president of State Farm Fire and Casualty Company in Bloomington, IL. The phone there is 309-766-2311.
And don't forget to let Prudential know why you have cancelled them if you have a policy with them. Their phone number at their Newark, NJ headquarters is: 1-800-562-8838.
See the archives at http://www.gunowners.org/radio.htm to listen to my interview on Live Fire with Gary Atkinson.
Prudential was of the opinion that Bruno's shotgun was not a sporting weapon, the only kind they will insure.
WTF!?! The Mossberg 500 is probably one of the most used shotguns out there during hunting season. I myself have owned THREE of them.
Oh, I see. It's a PUMP! Germany has decided to outlaw pump shotguns. First the semis, then the pumps. I guess the only shotguns that are OK are single shots and the rare bolt-actions.
I think they sort of expect that...
Good thing I'm not with pru or State Farm. I doubt my firearms would qualify as "sporting weapons". No, they wouldn't be sporting at all....
Well I guess I will have to start shopping for a new insurance company as I have state farm. Hopefully that claim I filed earlier this year doesn't turn any other companies off.
I'm going to use Colonial Penn which has our vehicle insurance.
Here is a picture of the little 12 lb nose breaking boxer...I don't think he liked her mauling him and blowing her alcohol laden breath on him... :o)
How about all those nice .223's that sort of look like assault rifles? I wonder if those would be ok? sheesh this is just ridiculous.
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