FILE- This Feb. 25, 2015 file photo shows Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, in Miami. Fulton is against a line of insurance offered by the NRA for gun owners to cover not only civil liability but costs associated with any criminal charges whenever a gun owner uses their firearm in what they call a self-defense or stand your ground case. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File)ATLANTA – The National Rifle Association is offering insurance for people who shoot someone, stirring criticism from gun-control advocates who say it could foster more violence and give gun owners a false sense of security to shoot first and ask questions later.
Some are calling it “murder insurance,” and say that rather than promoting personal responsibility and protection, it encourages gun owners to take action and not worry about the consequences. And they say it’s being marketed in a way that feeds on the nation’s racial divisions.
Guns Down, a gun-control group formed last year, is running an ad campaign to criticize the NRA’s new insurance. It’s just the latest group to take aim at the NRA’s offering.
“The reason I call it ‘murder insurance’ is because if you look at the way this is marketed, it’s really sold in the context of ‘There’s a threat around every corner, dear mostly-white NRA member,’ and that threat is either a black man or a brown man or some other kind of person of color,” said Guns Down director Igor Volsky.
“So when you inevitably have to use your gun to defend yourself from this threat around every corner, you have insurance to protect you.”