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ICYMI: Ted Budd Advertises Insurance for Domestic Abusers at His Gun Store [Jezebel]

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Gun violence prevention advocates refer to this kind of policy as “murder insurance.”

Jezebel: Ted Budd, GOP Senate Candidate, Advertises Insurance for Domestic Abusers at His Gun Store
Gun violence prevention advocates refer to this kind of policy as “murder insurance.”

By Kylie Cheung

September 30, 2022

Key Points:

  • Ted Budd, North Carolina’s Republican nominee for Senate, is one of two sitting U.S. congressmento own a gun store, and his advertises on its website an insurance provider that supports gun owners who face domestic violence charges.

  • Some advocates and family members of gun violence victims have called insurance plans like this—which have also been advertised by the NRA—“murder insurance.”
  • Budd’s store, ProShots, is located in Rural Hall, North Carolina, and in advertising U.S. Law Shield insurance, the Senate candidate seems unnervingly willing to help customers who might use their guns from ProShots to hurt or threaten partners or family members.
  • S. Law Shield offers legal representation and other support to its members who face criminal or civil charges for use of force, and also offers bail bonds, coverage for “negligent” or “accidental” discharge of a firearm, and protection against prosecution under North Carolina’s Wildlife Resource Commission regulations.
  • The insurance program notably has some pretty contradictory termsaround coverage for domestic violence incidents:

    • Specifically, U.S. Law Shield includes a “Family Violence Exclusion” clause in its terms, stating it won’t cover cases “involving a firearm or other lawful weapon against a Member’s current or former family member, household or dating relationship as defined in applicable state law.”
    • But then, in June 2020, the program allegedly sent a letter to its membership, obtained by Jezebel, issuing clarification that all but scraps the aforementioned exclusion clause: “Any Member who uses a firearm or other legal weapon in justified self-defense or defense of another is eligible for coverage, regardless of the specific charges they face, including charges alleging domestic violence.”
    • One part of the letter sure makes it sound like U.S. Law Shield’s members were asking a lotabout its terms for members accused of domestic violence: “We are often asked about the domestic violence exclusion,” it states.
  • Accordingto Everytown for Gun Safety, more than half of all mass shootings in the last decade have been carried out by a perpetrator who shot a current or former intimate partner or family member amid their rampage.
  • Budd’s store, ProShots, notably may be advertising U.S. Law Shield insurance as part of its advertising program for compensation.

  • With midterm elections just weeks away, gun violence may be front-of-mind for voters, following a year that saw the horrific Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting, and a string of others in Buffalo, New York; Sacramento, California; Highland Park, Illinois; and more.
  • Yet, in North Carolina’s race for U.S. Senate, one of the candidates seems more interested in helping gun-owning abusers advocate for themselves than in preventing the inevitable next mass shooting—statistically likely to be perpetrated by a domestic abuser.

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