Firearms Legal Protection (FLP) CCW Insurance Review [2024]: Written by a Lawyer

Despite the title of the article above, Firearms Legal Protection (FLP) is NOT insurance. Instead, they are a pre-paid legal plan that covers legal defense coverage costs from self defense situations.

So, why do we refer to them as “CCW Insurance” in the title of this review of FLP’s services? Simply, it’s because it’s the phrase most people are looking for when they want self defense liability protection.

One really neat feature about Firearms Legal Protection is that they are NOT insurance – they provide payments directly to service providers on your behalf during your defense.

So, how do they stack up against the other “CCW Insurance” providers? Keep on reading this Firearms Legal Protection review to find out if they pass our test.

Although I am a firearms attorney, I’m not YOUR attorney – this is not legal advice and only you can decide whether self defense insurance is right for your situation (and which provider to choose). This stuff is a bit more complicated than your standard car insurance, homeowners insurance, or life insurance.

Before we begin, I want to let you know that some of the links below are affiliate links that can help us keep our ammo budget going but they will NOT affect your price nor do they affect our advice about the insurance policy.

In this Firearms Legal Protection review we’re going to cover:

• Who/What is Firearms Legal Protection?
• How Much Does Firearms Legal Protection Coverage Cost?
• What Does Firearms Legal Protection Cover?
• Pros and Cons to Firearms Legal Protection Self Defense Insurance
• Firearms Legal Protection vs Other CCW Insurance
• Firearms Legal Protection (FLP) Review: Our Take
• Final Grade on Firearms Legal Protection Coverage

In the next couple of sections I’m going to look at what Firearms Legal Protection offers and I’ll cover the features, pricing, and what we do and don’t like about. However, if you’d like to know how I rank Firearms Legal Protection against other gun liability insurance providers, check out our Best Concealed Carry Insurance Comparison.

What is Firearms Legal Protection?

Firearms Legal Protection, like most concealed carry insurance providers, isn’t “insurance” at all. Instead, these often-called “ccw insurance companies” provide legal support for self-defense scenarios. We use them as gun owners in case something bad happens and therefore we like to think off them as insurance, but they’re not.

FLP, unlike some of the other offerings out there, focuses on one thing: self defense liability protection.

They’re proud that they don’t focus on training and happen to sell coverage – they do one thing only: cover legal costs for self defense incidents and red-flag (extreme risk protection) orders.

We really like this – it’s nice and simple to see what you get and what you’re paying for.

Is self defense liability support needed?

If you follow John Corriea of Active Self Protection (and you should), then you know that the fight can be even more difficult AFTER you’ve used your firearm in self defense. John is a member of Firearms Legal Protection and looks like he might be partnered with them too.

Unfortunately, your very own government may try to prosecute you for a crime or the person you shot, or their relatives, can sue you in court for damages.

As you can imagine, dealing with legal fees, lawyers, and more can be VERY expensive – especially if you lose and are ordered by the court to pay someone that sued you. Spending a few hundred thousand dollars, or more, is not uncommon just to get a defense started in a criminal case.

I’m known for telling my clients that “it’s often better to avoid a fight than it is to win a fight.” That’s because “winning” can be VERY expensive when legal costs are involved.

Firearms Legal Protection exists to help cover the costs associated with your legal defense in both criminal and civil cases.

How Much Does Firearms Legal Protection Cost?

Firearms Legal Protection self defense coverage has a different cost based on which tier you select – Individual Basic, Individual Premium, or Family Premium.

What Does Firearms Legal Protection Cover?

Before we get into what FLP covers, lets look at the common coverage areas of these companies and what we think the main things to look for in a self defense protection plan.

First, each company charges a different amount for varying max amounts of coverage. If you jus took at these stats alone, it can be very misleading.

Second, and perhaps most important, these companies don’t cover the same things nor for the same amounts. This is EXTREMELY important as a lot of money that can only be used in certain areas or doesn’t even apply to you because of a loop-hole is not always wise.

Here’s the problem: It can be very tough to wade through all the differences by reading the actual legal paperwork and policies but only you can decide which features are most important for you.

Here’s my advice: if you decide to get coverage, learn about what each company actually covers and then choose the one that you can afford and gives you the best protection for what’s important to you.

Also, I have a set of 3 baseline rules that I feel strongly about and I think that you should make sure your chosen ccw insurance has these three things (at a minimum):

1. Money up front
2. Ability to choose your own lawyer
3. Daily “per diem” payment while in trial

I’ll address these must-have ccw insurance features along with some of the other features to see how Firearms Legal Protection “stacks up” so you can decide if they’re right for you.

Criminal Defense Protection: Even if you believe that your defensive gun use was 100% justified, you might still be prosecuted by your own government! Your criminal defense can be very expensive (it’s not unreasonable for things to START at $200,000 for a criminal defense trial). Thankfully, Firearms Legal Protection doesn’t limit how much they’ll pay to defend you at trial (or during appeal).

Civil Defense & Liability coverage: Some of these companies won’t even cover Civil cases and, unfortunately, you can spend a LOT of money defending yourself civilly (other individuals sue you) even if you are found innocent in your criminal trial (see OJ Simpson for an example of this).

Up Front Money: If you need money for your legal defense, you need it up front. Reimbursement is nice, but if you can cover a few hundred thousand dollars up front on your own in case of a self defense gun use, perhaps insurance is not right for you?  Firearms Legal Protection pays legal fees directly to the attorney representing you and any expert witnesses.

Bail: FLP covers bail if you select either of the premium plans (individual or family) up to a $250,000 premium – this means that they cover a bond up to $2.5 million – this is industry leading!

Per Diem: While you’re in court for trial, there’s a good chance you won’t be able to work. After weeks or months, this can be a serious strain on your finances in addition to defense costs. This is one of our 3 required features and is covered by FLP on both of the premium plans up to $1,500.

Appeal Coverage: Some of these companies won’t cover appeals. This is scary as you might be innocent on appeal but found guilty at the first trial. FLP covers your legal defense during all of your trials.

Choosing Your Own Attorney: Unfortunately, Firearms Legal Protection only pays their contracted lawyers to represent you. This is problematic for us because it is one of our 3 must-haves. Some good news is their coverage agreement specifically states that they will not be able to direct or influence your defense – this is good news and alleviates one of our concerns in this area.

Multi-state Protection: If you elect a premium plan from FLP, they claim protection in all 50 states. This means that FLP is likely the best option for residents of NY, NJ, and WA. However, as other companies aren’t allowed to give coverage in those states, we’re not sure if the unique structure of Firearms Legal Protection really allows true 50-state coverage.

What Firearms Legal Protection Doesn’t Cover:

Civil Liability: Unfortunately, FLP does not cover civil liability.

This means that they’ll cover your legal defense for civil lawsuits (an individual sues you) but if you lose and there’s a judgment against you (you owe money based on their lawsuit), you must cover that on your own.

This is not one of our “must-haves” in coverage because it is up to you to decide your risk tolerance.

Firearms Legal Protection vs Other CCW Insurance:

It is almost impossible for me to say which ccw insurance is “best” overall because everyone’s situation, budget, and risk tolerance is unique. However, I can help you make some comparisons so that you can make an educated decision for yourself.

Firearms Legal Protection Review – Our Take

For any concealed carry insurance option, we strongly recommend looking for three basic ccw insurance requirements:

1. The ability to choose your own attorney,
2. Money up-front, and
3. A daily allowance to help offset time off work

Firearms Legal Protection only offers 2 of these three basic “must-haves” – money up front and a daily allowance (on their premium plans only).

Because they don’t offer one of our must-haves – the ability to choose your own attorney – and they don’t civil damages, they only get a moderate grade from us.

Choosing your own attorney is HUGE and, in many cases, more important than the total dollar amount they’d spent to help defend you.

I’m sure it isn’t too hard to imagine the worst lawyer possible – dirty/stained poor-fitting suit, messy hair, day-dreams in court, doesn’t know which end of the gun is the noisy end, keeps getting the facts of your case (and your name) wrong, makes the judge angry because they’re always late, and you’re convinced they got their law degree from a Cracker Jack box.

Now imagine the best lawyer that you can find for your criminal defense. Easy, right? Good.

I strongly believe that $500k to the BEST lawyer is way more likely to keep you out of jail than an unlimited amount of money spent on the WORST lawyer.

I’m not saying that Firearms Legal Protection will hire the worst lawyer for you. But, what it they do? Are you willing to risk that?

Also, whenever a company hires someone to provide a service for me, instead of letting me choose my own, I’m suspicious of the quality of work I’ll be getting and to whom the contractor is most loyal.

My other issue with FLP is that they don’t cover civil liability.

This makes sense for them because they are so focused on being pre-paid legal services and civil liability coverage is effectively insurance.

However, there are two main costs in legal self defense: the legal fees and any money awarded to people who sue you.

I’m sure it’s not hard to imagine how these two issues might play off of each other – if your civil legal defense isn’t the best, you might lose and owe money. Now, this means you could be on the hook for thousands or millions.

I get it…. I just dumped on two major areas that I don’t like about FLP coverage.

That said, I still like a lot of what they have to offer.

They seem to have a no-nonsense approach to providing coverage for legal fees and I’m really looking forward to getting to know the company better and hopefully updating this review.

Firearms Legal Protection Pros and Cons