Hawaii is considering whether it should make liability insurance compulsory for gun owners; other states have also made similar considerations amidst sustained gun violence.
Hawaiian State Sen. Josh Green (D-Kona, Ka’u) proposed a bill that would require gun owners to secure firearms liability insurance from private carriers. Should Hawaii approve the law, it could potentially be the first state to implement such a requirement.
"I don't want to take people's guns away from them but I want people to take full responsibility," Green remarked. "They have to pay insurance so that if they're in a collision and they hurt someone else who's an innocent bystander, it's covered. Just like with guns, if a gun falls into the wrong hands or if there's an accident, just an accident, it makes a lot of sense to me that we have that extra level of responsibility."
Some insurance experts have called the bill redundant, saying that homeowners and renters insurance should be able to cover for accidents involving firearms. Purposeful criminal activity with firearms, however, is understandably not covered by liability insurance.
Hawaii is not the first to consider mandatory gun liability insurance. Los Angeles County mulled over passing a similar bill in the wake of the San Bernardino attacks. Last October, New York State Assembly contemplated over enforcing a $250,000 gun liability insurance requirement.
In light of recent shooting incidents, major insurance broker Willis Group is offering what it calls “active shooter insurance,” which covers the liability that companies, storeowners, academic administration personnel, and similar others have if it was found that they did not take any precautions to preempt gun violence incidents.
