Self Defense Insurance

**GunLawyer001** · December 1st, 2015, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by SuperMoose

I’d be a little concerned with an organization that cannot even articulate standing in a civil matter, let alone defend me in a criminal matter:

http://abc27.com/2015/10/30/city-gun...in-harrisburg/

It’s also interesting to note how vocal they were, until the Commonwealth Court struck down their one success and now, their website doesn’t even mention the Court’s decision or what steps they’re going to take in relation to it - http://pennlago.com/city-harrisburg-...egal-gun-laws/. Based on the docket to the Commonwealth Court that is available on that page, they didn’t take any action after the decision. It’s also interesting how limited/lack luster their brief was http://pennlago.com/wp-content/uploa...-Appellees.pdf and that it appears there were several Amicus Briefs that were filed, which they don’t have on their website.

Caveat emptor…

To be fair, the defect in passing the law (the "single subject" thing, where every bill is supposed to stand on it's own and cover just one topic, so you don't get a lot of expensive bad crap ("earmarks") shoehorned into a popular bill)) was what caused the lack of standing; it's traditional and expected that you can't sue over a criminal law until it affects you in a personal and individualized way, in the absence of enabling law. They filed their suit to get publicity and to get a win, but once the law was declared defective, they had no Plan B, nor could they have a Plan B in the absence of a plaintiff directly affected individually.

The Sierra Club can sue over environmental activity in another state, because Federal law grants them standing. But I can't wander over to a nearby town, or even file suit in my own town, and seek a declaratory judgment that a criminal statute is invalid, in the absence of some enforcement action against me.

On the positive side, as soon as they prosecute anyone, that person can reach out and get all the lawyers who want the free publicity, to pitch in and handle the case. Maybe they'll finally set a useful precedent for our side.

So, even though I'm dubious about the benefits of "insurance" that's probably not regulated like real insurance, and is called a "retainer" although it's not an actual retainer, and I'm not hopeful that the luck-of-the-draw generic lawyer you'd get would be the one you'd choose if you had free choice and a blank check, I can't fault them for having the enabling law yanked out from under their feet.

Personally, I might have tried the test case in a smaller jurisdiction with a different judge. But I wasn't a player in that game, and all the players who participated lost as badly as it was possible to lose. But they got their publicity and I'm sure they got paying clients in who are fuzzy on the details of "winning" and "losing" cases, as long as they got the media coverage. Look at Hillary Clinton, whose fans adore her because she held all kinds of high-profile jobs; the fact that she sucked at all of them (except for the job that Monica did) is kind of ignored. There are gun owners who are equally fuzzy about whether a "player" wins or loses a lot, they just read the name and assume competence. The same for our 2nd term current president.

On a related note, I'm not sure that anyone would buy auto insurance that promised to provide "a car of some sort" if your car was destroyed. Your 2014 BMW gets totaled, so here's a recently-inspected 1995 Yugo. Insurance usually provides cash, so you can buy the replacement car you want, or hire the body shop you want. On the other hand, HMO's and PPO's offer you health services from their stable of docs and nurses instead of cash for you to find your own doctor. I guess that if you have an HMO and you get cancer, you could find out (too late) that the only doctors your insurance provides are inept. Or you could luck out. Toss a coin.

**rodspade** · December 1st, 2015, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by Sgt.K

Originally Posted by GunLawyer001

If there's a plan out there that provides reasonable fees, up front, in any case where there's a shooting and you plausibly claim self-defense, then that would be something to look into. What you want is to be able to hire the best lawyer in the county and state where the incident happened, and be subsidized most or all of the fees.

If you can answer ethically:

Can you name any meeting that criteria?

ACLDN.org claims to provide this.

**indianjack** · December 2nd, 2015, 11:32 AM

Yes, when I signed up a few years back it was Texas Law Shield and only would only come to your aid if you needed it in Texas and surroundings states. My conversation on the phone last week informed me that they had expanded.