Of the top 10 questions I get asked as a Concealed Carry instructor, one of them will be along the lines of, “Should I get concealed carry insurance, and if so, which concealed carry insurer is the best”?
The answer to the first part of the question is a hard YES! I could write an entire blog post on why, but for the sake of keeping this post on topic take my answer as gospel for now. Surviving a deadly force encounter is traumatic enough, the last thing you want to do is bear the cost of criminal or civil trial which can easy run into hundreds of thousands of dollars!
“Neither of them are the best per say, but one of them is probably the best for you and your particular situation.“
So the next logical question is which one to use? The two largest companies in this space are U.S. Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) and U.S. LawShield. The third runner up is arguably CCW Safe. There are other articles that compare these three companies (and others), but I want to take a slightly different approach. I know you simply want an instant answer to the question at hand, but it isn’t as cut & dry as you probably think. Neither of them are the “best” per say, but one of them is probably best for you and your particular situation. My goal is to figure out which one as quickly as possible. In order to do that…
- Watch the above video is its entirety! There are a few nuggets of information there that may help you decide pronto!
- Review the below comparison chart.
- Read the Top 4 “deal breakers” for most people listed below. I explain what each point is, why it’s a possible deal breaker, and give my own personal take on that point.
Plan Comparison Chart
| USCCA | US LawShield | CCW Safe | ||||
| Gold | Platinum | Elite | Single Plan | Defender/Protector | Ultimate | |
| Retainers / Deductables / Co-Payments | None | None | None | |||
| Legal Defense Limit (Civil & Criminal) | $250,000 (per occurrence) | No Limit | No Limit | |||
| Civil Liability Limit | $2,000,000 (per occurrence) | X | X | $1,000,000 Spouse Add On ($220) |
||
| Loss of Pay Limit | $750 / day (Part of Liability Limit) | - | $250 / day | $350 / day | ||
| Bail Bond Limit | $50,000 (Part of Legal Defense Limit) | Add On ($2.95 / month) $50,000 | $500,000 $1M ($50 / year) | $1,000,000 | ||
| Incidental Expenses Limit | $6,000 (Part of Legal Defense Limit) | - | - | |||
| Replace Cost Of Firearm (if confiscated) | Part of Incidental Expenses | Add On ($6.95 / month) Vague Discription | ✓ | |||
| Residental/Auto Cleaning Costs Limit | Part of Incidental Expenses | X | $3,000 (In Home Only) | $4,000 In Home & Auto |
||
| Expert Witness Limit | Part of Legal Defense Limit | Part of Bail Bond Limit | No Limit | |||
| Mental Health Counseling | - | - | 10 Sessions OR $1,500 | 40 Sessions OR $6,000 |
||
| May Select Your Own Attorney | ✓ | X | ✓ | |||
| Covers Any Legally Owned Weapon | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| 24/7/365 Emergency Hotline | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Multi-State Covereage | ✓ | Add On ($2.95 / month) | ✓ | |||
| Spousal Coverage | Add On (50% discount) Inside & Outside Home | Add On (Annual Only) $22.80 discount | Add On ($100 / year) | ✓ | ||
| Minor Children Coverage | Inside Home Only | Add On ($2.00 / month) Inside & Outside Home | Inside Home Only | |||
| Red Flag Law Coverage | X | ✓ | X | ✓ | ||
| Family/Dating Violence Exclusion | X | ✓ | ✓ Includes Invited Guests |
|||
| Hunter & Angler Coverage | X | Add On ($2.95 / month) | X | |||
| Training (OK, Good, or Great) | OK | Good | Great | OK | OK | OK |
| Unavailable In These State | NJ, NY, WA | NY, RI, ME, AK, MA, DE, CT | NY, NJ, WA | |||
| Monthly Cost | $29 | $39 | $49 | $10.95 | $16 / $14 | - |
| Annual Cost | $300 | $408 | $504 | $131.40 | $179 / $149 | $499 |
| Savings If Paid Annually | $48 | $60 | $84 | $0 | $13 / $19 | - |
Top 4 Possible Deal Breakers…
#1 Civil Liability Coverage
If you seriously injure or kill someone during a self-defense encounter, put it in your mind right now that you will be sued in civil court! I know, I know…you would never use force against another unnecessarily! That doesn’t matter. There are a lot of people who’ve lost their home and savings to pay off debts owed to the very people who forced their hand in the first place. Our judicial system is a lot of things, unfortunately fair is not always one of them.
Civil Liability Coverage will pay the amount owed (up to the coverage limit) in the event that you lose a civil trial. Keep in mind, this is not the cost of the trial itself! It is the amount that the judge has levied against you as compensation for your attacker.
POSSIBLE DEAL BREAKER: U.S. LawShield does not cover civil liability! This is part of the reason they are the cheapest of the three. They will cover the cost of your civil trial.
MY TAKE: If you are strapped for cash and the other two companies are outside of your reach financially, go with U.S. LawShield so that you at least have coverage for the costs of criminal and civil trials. However, if you can pony up the cash, go with one of the other two!
#2 Red Flag Law Coverage
Red flag laws essentially circumvent due process by removing your firearms, you, or both from your premises without anything more that the word of someone who “feels” you may be a threat, irregardless of how much or how little evidence there is to the contrary. The laws vary by state, but in general a hearing will automatically be scheduled or one must be requested by you in order to regain possession of your property. No matter how you feel about Red Flag Laws, they are here and will likely be here to stay for quite a while.
POSSIBLE DEAL BREAKER: USCCA does not offer Red Flag Law Coverage under any of its membership plans. They have an associated entity called the USCCA Legal Defense Foundation who offers grants for legal gun owners who have been “red flagged”. You don’t have to be a USCCA member to apply for a grant.
MY TAKE: The cost of Red Flag hearings should be significantly cheaper than a full on trial. That said, good legal representation is never “cheap”! If you want both Civil Liability Coverage and Red Flag Law Coverage, CCW Safe‘s Ultimate plan is the only option. It should be noted, it’s cheaper to get both USCCA‘s Gold or Platinum plan and a U.S. LawShield plan (which covers Red Flag Laws) than it is to buy CCW Safe‘s Ultimate plan, at least for a single person.
#3 Family/Domestic Violence Exclusion Clause
There are a number of things that will exclude coverage. Most of them make sense, like the requirement that you use a legally obtained weapon or that you not be in the act of committing a crime. This one is extremely questionable though. It basically stipulates that if you have to defend yourself against another family member and/or someone you are dating, they will not cover you!
POSSIBLE DEAL BREAKER: USCCA is the only one of the three that does not have a Family/Domestic Violence Exclusion clause (meaning that they will cover these occurrences). Both U.S. LawShield and CCW Safe do, with CCW Safe taking it a step further and including any invited guest to your home as part of the exclusion!
MY TAKE: Roughly 60% of female murder victims are killed by an imitate partner of family member. Roughly 81% of all murder victims are killed by someone they are generally acquainted with. Similar statistics can be found across all violent crimes. My primary point is that you are statistically more likely to be violently attacked by someone you know rather than someone you don’t. From the insurer’s standpoint, this is an easy way to exclude a lot of self-defense cases! :-/
#4 Select Your Own Attorney
POSSIBLE DEAL BREAKER: U.S. LawShield does not allow you to select an attorney that is outside of their network.
MY TAKE: From all accounts, all three companies have aligned themselves with experienced attorneys in their respective jurisdictions. That said, it is nice to select your attorney, especially if you already have a working relationship with a good self-defense attorney.
Summary
I want to reiterate again that there is no “best” option for everyone. You really have to evaluate which plan is best for you. Are you married? If so, what options do they have for your spouse? Do you have kids? If they get into a fight at school and the school-to-prison pipeline kicks in, will they be covered? Review each bullet point in the table above and choose a plan that fits your lifestyle!
Am 40 living in Ocala,Fl. Maried 15years with 5 children. Ages 12y, 8y, 7, and 4y twins. Discounting the monthly premium payment. In your opinion what you think could be more beneficial for my situation? Thanks and I know and am aware that this is just your opinion and its up to me to make an actual decision. Thanks.
Jabari,
I do not think your RED Flag entry for CCW Safe Defender/Protector plans is correct. Check out the FAQ on this issue at:
https://ccwsafe.com/faq
Thanks and great information.
Hello Roy,
CCW Safe updated their policy after this post went up. I plan to make a number of updates this week, including this one!
Thank you!
Thanks Jabari for pulling all this info together. It has been very helpful with my decision making on CC insurance.
No problem, I’m glad I could help!
I agree!! Thank you Thank you. Definitely helped me refine my decision.
Absolutely agree that this is a great video. Thanks so much for pulling it together.
I totally agree. This info sealed the deal for me. I had already felt I had a proper decision and now I know I have. Thanks soooo much
BTW – Looking at CCW Safe’s website today (4/13/21) they’re showing the Defender/Protector plan cover up to $5,000 Red Flag Law hearings.
Thank you! I’m planning a number of updates to this post this week, including that!
It was articles and videos like this that made me switch from Uscca to CcwSafe. Uscca is flashy and pretty with cool resources but when it truly comes down to it, the legal defense coverage is the peace of mind we all are after. Given that Uscca changed all that in there membership plans along with that lawsuit regarding a person suing Uscca for stoping a payment to her legal counsel (allegedly). After I read the response from Uscca stating ” the defendant blew through her legal defense coverage WAY BEFORE trial is even due to start made my jaw drop and opened my eyes to the real potential of costs to defend yourself. Legal defense coverage, bail, appeals, retaining my 2ndA rights, etc etc is the most important coverage must haves for myself and my needs. I just can’t have peace of mind with a coverage cap in the forefront of my mind all the time. Again, these are just the must haves for me and me only, I cannot speak for anyone else.
Good on you. I actually just made the same switch today. Going with ccwsafe ultimate for my wife and I. Luckily I had the uscca elite plan and was still in my first year so they are refunding me all the money i gave them and that will cover my first year with ccwsafe.
Yeah, I got USCCA after the whole Kenosha thing, thinking about all the guys I see talking about it.
Had it for little under two years now. Just saw a video today about a attorney going over what their exclusions, and realized that, “shit, im paying them $300 a year to possibly do jack to help me!”
Definitely not renewing once it expires, looks like im going to be going with CCW Safe.
Jabari thanks for putting this together and staying neutral between the three. I currently am with the USCCA gold level and don’t see a need to level up since coverage doesn’t increase. I’m thinking about also signing up with CCW Defender and having both companies on my tool belt.
If you don’t mind I’d like your opinion and thoughts on that. Thanks in advance…
Pat
Hello Patrick! I actually have two different plans myself. If that is what it takes to get the coverage you want, and the cost isn’t a burden, I say go for it!
Have you checked with the two different companies to see if they will allow you to have two companies at the same time? It would be worth asking as some companies will not allow two different companies to insure for the same thing, conflict issues I would assume. How would you differentiate which company covers what costs? Who goes first?
The companies mentioned generally allow it, but I highly suggest not attempting to use multiple insurers to cover a single area. For example, don’t attempt to have USCCA and US Law Shield attempt to cover your bail charges. They may debate what percentage each should cover (if any at all). Instead, use one company to wholly cover individual categories.
Great article, I’m sharing this with my family and friends.
I went the full route 2 years ago and looked up each company separate and compared costs and services wish this would have been out then because it would have saved me a few hours of doing it.
FYI, I went with CCWsafe in the end.
Mr. Hunt, thank you for taking the time to educate us. I chose CCW because I can pick my own attorney, it offers the option to cover your spouse, and it covers somehow invited guests.
Is there an advantage to Law Shield since I live in Houston. How does ccwsafe manage incidents away from Oklahoma city?
What about court filing fees? Investigator costs? Discovery costs? Process server costs?
today is 7/23/21.. I have been carrying for 4 mouth, I just got USCCA as insurance, I been told that if i was sued, and loss, uscca will want me to pay all money back to them, and that they also encourage you to plea deal, which is really a loss, so how can that be good. Also how can i protect my family and my self from this issue…. Thank you so much your video was great, and I subscribed to your channel
I am curious if anyone was able to answer these questions for you? I also have these same questions. Thanks
John
Like John, I am also curious to know if this was answered? Seems like a pretty big flaw in USCCA in my opinion..
Thanks for the information very informative. Do you have any promotional Code coupons ?
Also are there any other Insurance that i can compare prices ? CCW went up on prices
for the Defender chose.
thanks
Hello Mitch! Sorry, no coupon codes currently. I don’t think they like the fact that I promote all of the companies reviewed rather than just one, so they haven’t given me any codes.
Jabari,
Do you know if you can purchase policies from two of them at the same time? Or am I limited to only obtaining coverage from one of them?
Hello Brendon, yes! As a matter of fact i have two policies…one from two different companies.
Thanks so much for the video, it was very helpful. There is one thing I would also like everyone to know if they have a ‘partner’ rather than a “spouse”. US Law Shield is the only company that I have found that will allow people to cover their live-in or long term girlfriend the same way you can a spouse. They make no distinctions between the two. This results in substantial cost savings vice buying two full prices coverages from other vendors.
Thank you so much for this video and all this data it really helps me a lot!!!
David,
I am semi-retired living with my wife, brother, and grandson.
I am the only CCW holder.
It is time for renewal with my LawShield, but after reading the above comparisons, I can combine USCCA and a cheaper selection of my US LAWShield for slightly above my current annual premium fee with LawShield.
I was paying just $13 a month for the least expensive USCCA coverage, for many years, until it recently went up to $19 a month. Still reasonable but the nearly 50% increase was unexpected. In the above chart it shows $29 a month. Have costs for them gone up that much? Are they anticipating a lot of self defense and civil trials coming up? In light of the rioting and increased criminal activity around the country, maybe so.
Comparing your chart (which I greatly appreciate) to the policy I found on a USCCA webpage (https://www.deltadefense.com/public/self-defense-liability-policy.pdf), I’m finding some differences. For example:
Bail Bond Limit–$50,000 Policy $100,000
Incidental Expenses–$6,000 Policy $10,000
Have they updated their policy since your comparison? I’d suggest these changes could be improvements made after seeing your summary. If so, many thanks.
Bill
Also suggest making note that there is a difference between “bail bond” and “posting bail up to”. If you bail is set at $100K they pay $10K and you still are likely to be on the hook to post collateral like a real estate lien with the bonding company.
Great point!
My understanding is it’s $100k For bail bonds so up 1 million now compared to the others. Also the attorney fees are uncapped too with uscca. May want to update the coverage levels.
Another potential deal breaker
USCCA has an indemnification clause, if you are convicted, they can subrogate against you for all that they have paid out, this means that if you plea down, which is about 90% of the time, and are therefore “convicted” on a lesser charge, you are screwed.
Another good talking point would be that some companies will only REIMBURSE the monies IF you are exonerated. Choose the one who truly defends YOU and not the ones that only appear to have your back.
And finally, USCCA Self-Defense Shield is the only one of the three to unambiguously cover domestic self-defense incidents. These domestic incidents are not covered by most other concealed carry insurance programs!
Which plan would work the best for the State of Oregon. I am also a former state Trooper.
US Law Shield vs USCCA [2021 Comparison] Peak Firearms 21.086.417 2 hours ago 1. Although most might skip straight to the coverage details, we feel it is important to spend some time to understand the insurance company as it can provide valuable insight into the philosophy and mission of each organization. USCCA United States Concealed Carry Association USCCA was established in 2003 by two co-founders, Tim Schmidt and Tommy Schmidt who noticed the implications for those who had ever had to…
I’m a little confused by your chart, there’s a red check mark under multi state coverage for USCCA, does that mean they’re good or bad for that? I’ll be reading their terms carefully before choosing anything but thought I’d ask you as well. I travel a lot and would definitely need to be covered outside my home state.
As long as you have have an active membership and you use a weapon that you can legally possess in whatever location you are in at the time of the incident (including the use of hands & fists), then USCCA will cover you when you travel. Please refer to their reciprocity map in regards to carrying in other states: https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/ccw_reciprocity_map/.
Thank you Mr. Hunt for all your work putting together the video AND the spreadsheet of data!
If (like in your case) a person were to purchase 2 of the plans from the different companies, how would you manage a situation where you needed to use them? Would the responding attorneys coordinate the plan benefits OR would the plan ower have to do that?
EX: legal defense limit of USCCA $250K But US Lawshield No Limit?
Thanks Again for all the great into!
Hello Tom,
Thank you! So it completely depends on the terms of service at the time you signed up. Generally, you’d be able to select which company you’d like to cover which particular service (legal defense, civil liability, etc). Double dipping into one of those services will more than likely not be allowed, nor would I recommend it. That opens the door for them to dispute what percentage each one covers for a particular service, which may lead to a legal battle within itself. I haven’t heard of that happening, it’s purely my personal recommendation.
Could you get CCWsafe’s position on two key items:
What is “Recognized self defense” and who gets to make that determination if the member is making the claim, but the state says “not self defense”? Is CCW reserving the right to deny coverage if it makes a pre-trial determination it does not agree with the self defense claim?
What is “allowed” to be carrying? Does CCW consider a private sign or policy banning guns in a business in a jurisdiction where such a sign or policy does not render carry a criminal or civil violation (i.e., not “binding signage” as it is commonly called)?
Both of these are important potential limitations on coverage which lack precise definition. As worded, they could be used by CCWsafe to deny coverage in circumstances one might thing they are covered for. Of course, no answer, or simply quoting their published policy but not stating a position on what it means, would also speak volumes.
Is it possible to use USCCA up to $250,000 for legal defense and then switch to US Lawshield to take over if costs go above $250,000?
Honestly, if you want to see them both within the same category (in this case I assume criminal or civil defense fees), I’d contact them directly and get written verification from both. The last thing you want is for them to begin bickering over which company is responsible for what amount. Also USCCA recently increased their amounts. I’m planning a follow up video (there are a lot of additional changes with all three companies).
Great article, but I think important to note is the coverage of minors. Most incidents will likely be outside the home, and 2 offer no coverage there. I have 3 minors, that’s a potential deal breaker for me.
Great point! I have to go back and check, but I believe I mentioned that in the video. I will add it to the article on my next update!
It looks like this was written January 2021. Has this data been updated recently? I heard USCCA made some significant changes to their coverage limits. I would also recommend in your chart to show all items as covered being the check mark. It is confusing when you mix (like the family exclusion).
Hello Allen, I plan an update to this information in the next month or so along with a follow up video. As far as the family exclusion, the check marks indicate that a particular policy is present. I had another chart that I used in CCL classes a while back that marked it as your requested. People then thought it was a missing feature that would normally be desired. I agree that it can be confusing (which I explain in the video). I’ll put some more thought into a better way to present it for the update. Thank you!
Thanks for the update. Perhaps instead of labeling it as an exclusion, state it as covered if defending against attack by family member, and attack by invited guest.
And Thank you for putting this information together. It is very valuable and helpful!
Take Care,
Allan
Hi Jabari, I updated your chart, and added more info and additional providers to the list. I couldn’t find specifics for some details. If you are interested I’d be willing to share what I have with you. It’s currently in a MS Excel spreadsheet. Let me know and I can share it as either a Google Sheet, Google Drive document, or OneDrive document based on your preference. I’m assuming you can see my email address, just send me an email.
what do the red, black check marks mean; what does the hyphen mean?
Hello Ronald! Anything in red should have extra attention paid to it (IMO). Check marks mean that the line item is included. Hyphens mean the line item may be included under a related line item. I explain more about that in the accompanying video…
Thanks for this information. It is timely as I’m looking for coverage. I’m looking forward to your update.
You might want to look at the formatting on your comparison table, as it is good on the desktop but not good on my cellphone (Firefox on Android).
As of 6/26/2022 it appears that CCW Safe no longer covers defense against a family member or invited guests in any of there plans
Will you leave a link here for the updated video? I’m in the process of looking now.
Excellent presentation.
Hello and thanks for making this post. I am currently looking for CCW insurance and the glaring issues I see if that USCCA is the only one that protects against family/friends/invitees. And as you said, likely to be attacked by someone you know. Unfortunately it seems the only way to properly CYA is to overlap coverage between USCCA for that specific item I mentioned, and then CCW safe for everything else. Is there any true insurance out there that actually covers everything?
Super helpful information, thank you! It appears that the USCCA program comes in three flavors, and the actual difference isn’t the coverage details, but rather the amount/type of training that is included, is that correct? As noted, it also appears that the best way to get the broadest, or most specific coverage, is to sign up for multiple plans. How would this compare, or possibly dovetail, with an attorney retainer type of plan?
Great information! I originally had USCCA but switched to US Law Shield and CCW Safe. While I’m impressed with USCCA’s training emphasis and related training programs, I am much more comfortable in general with the legal insurance and related legal training afforded by US Law Shield and CCW Safe.
USCCA SELF-DEFENSE LIABILITY COVERAGE FORM
SECTION I – COVERAGE,
LIABILITY FOR COMPENSATORY DAMAGES,
1. Insuring Agreement,
e. We have the right to assign counsel of our choosing to defend the “insured” against any
“claim” arising out of an “occurrence” or incident resulting in “covered legal liability” to which
this insurance applies. We will not unreasonably withhold approval of defense counsel
requested by the “insured”, provided that such counsel, in our sole judgment, has the
necessary professional experience to defend the “claim” and:
(1) agrees to operate within our litigation and panel counsel guidelines; and
(2) agrees to our usual and customary rates and billing guidelines.
WOULDNT THIS BE A VIOLATION OF The Attorney-Client Privilege???
SECTION I – COVERAGE,
LIABILITY FOR COMPENSATORY DAMAGES,
2. Exclusions This policy does not apply to, and provides no insurance for:
b. Criminal Acts
Any criminal act by any “insured”, including any injury or damage caused by or during any
criminal act of any “insured”.
ARE YOU NOT COVERED FOR CRIMINAL LITIGATION???
It’s illegal for an insurance company to insure a “crime”. So essentially, if you are found guilty then they can not legally cover your expenses. At least, that is how it’s always been presented to me. However, IMO they aren’t covering expenses of the crime itself. Everyone has a legal right to a defense in court. Instead, they are covering your legal expenses. This is an issue I plan to address in an update video…
I take this to mean they will not cover you if you are in the process of committing a crime…i.e. robbery, home invasion, kidnapping, etc. I do not think the act of providing self-defense is a crime. Now my concern would be what your responsibilities are with regard to self-defense. In some states you have an obligation to retreat. If it is determined that you “stood your ground”, is this a crime?
You’ll have to confirm this with an attorney within your state (or call your insurance provider if you already have one). IMO though, yes…you’d technically be breaking the law in that case and the provider could technically deny service. I can’t speak for them in that regard though, it’s something you’ll want to confirm with each provider!
US Law Shield also covers any weapon not just a gun. I’m not sure in the others.
Great article and comparison.
Thanks for the information. Very helpful.
I got US Law Shield even before I got my CCW since I usually carry a knife. I’m going to add USCCA (Platinum) for the civil liability and the educational info. I feel like that is worth the $399. I am concerned about the responses on here about USCCA really standing behind their policy though. So, I’ll be calling US Law Shield if something actually happens.
Great articulate, but looks a little outdated. Would love an update. By the articulation it looks like ccw had the advantage because of the unlimited deference limit vs uscca $250,000 limit. But looks like uscca now also has no limit plus the limit liability coverage included making it now a more clear winner. Am I missing anything?
I was going to bring that up also, USCCA now has unlimited legal defense. I verified with them.