quote:

Originally posted by Marlin Fan:
This maybe off topic, why doesn’t New York, allow insurance in case you shoot someone? I don’t know this for sure, a good friend from HS was telling me is.

quote:

Originally posted by fnforme:
I'm a defense attorney and I have handled many self-defense cases.

One day one of the bigger companies that offers this service was hosted by my local range and I asked them if they had ever represented any of their customers in court. They never had. Do you want your 2:00 AM call to them to be the first time they ever actually process a claim?

There are a myriad of reasons why I think these services are useless. From what I remember, there is a relatively low cap on expert witness fees. Also, I can't help but wonder if they will defer to the attorney's discretion on which experts to retain or whether they have their own at negotiated rates. I've won multiple self-defense cases with a ballistics expert out of Indiana. I want my guy because we gel, not someone cheaper because they're local or anything like that.

Clean self-defense cases are exceedingly rare. When I say clean, what I mean is usually it's hood shit as opposed to one completely innocent party being attacked by a felon. The internet gun forum concept that you need a lawyer if you engage in a clean self-defense shooting is overstated. Maybe this is different in other parts of the country.

Finally, I think people overestimate the price of an attorney. Paying several hundred a year for an insurance premium on a very low probability event only makes sense if the cost of loss is excessive. Criminal defense attorneys quote very high rates but a good starting negotiating point is a quarter to a third of the price you're quoted. Seriously.