This action appears to be made as a pre-emptive strike to regulate the way weapons owners are treated by insurers.
Representative Matt Gaetz has now filed legislation that is designed to help to regulate how homeowners insurance companies will be able to treat gun owners, through a bill that is being viewed as a form of pre-emptive strike in Florida.
At the moment, application for home coverage do not ask whether or not a gun will be on the property.
Within the state of Florida, when a homeowners insurance policy is completed, the property owner is never required to say whether or not they are also a gun owner. Experts in that industry have indicated that there is only one situation in which individuals who own guns might receive different treatment, which is a circumstance in which theft occurs. At those times, there may be a limited level of coverage applied.
Some feel that this type of homeowners insurance legislation filing will be unnecessary.
There are some in Florida who are left scratching their heads by the filing that Gaetz is making, as it is for an action that homeowners insurance companies in the state are not currently taking. However, supporters of gun rights feel that it is only a matter of time before this changes, and this bill will help to ensure that gun owners will not be treated differently.
Gun ownership supporters have expressed that homeowners insurance is being used in other states as a tool for controlling whether or not people own guns, particularly in the Northeastern states. There are a number of legislators in those states that are considering an additional requirement for gun owners to have to carry liability coverage in order to help to pay for damages relating to the use – or misuse – of those weapons.
At the same time, others feel that treating gun owners differently in terms of their homeowners insurance requirements may be a concept worth discussing. The hope from that camp is that it will help to promote responsible behaviors relating guns because there is a financial benefit or penalty linked to the choices – such as safe storage – that are made.
