Right to Bear CCW Insurance Review [2025]: Written by a Lawyer
If you’ve heard of Right to Bear Insurance and you’re looking to see if they’re the right concealed carry insurance for you (more accurately called self defense liability insurance), we’ve got some good news: we’re going review Right to Bear, explain their coverage options, and give you some pros and cons to help you make an informed decision.
In this Right to Bear CCW Insurance review, I’ll take a deep dive into their policy and I’ll let you know what you can expect and whether or not I think Right to Bear is worth it for you and your family.
Why should you listen to me? Unlike others out there making CCW Insurance recommendations, I am both a firearms attorney AND I am a licensed insurance agent. I’ve taken my years of experience and read through all of the fine print of the policy and terms and conditions to let you know what is being offered and covered.
However, 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 Right to Bear Insurance review we’re going to cover:
- Who/What is Right to Bear?
- How Much Does Right to Bear Coverage Cost?
- What Does Right to Bear Cover?
- Pros and Cons to Right to Bear Self Defense Insurance
- Right to Bear vs Other CCW Insurance
- Right to Bear Review: Our Take
- Final Grade on Right to Bear
In the next couple of sections I’m going to cover the features, pricing, and what we do and don’t like about what Right to Bear offers. However, if you’d like to know how I rank Right to Bear against other gun liability insurance providers, check out our Best Concealed Carry Insurance Comparison.
What is Right to Bear Insurance?
Right to Bear, like other concealed carry insurance providers, isn’t technically “insurance.” Instead, these “ccw insurance companies” provide legal support for self-defense scenarios.
Right to Bear has a strong backing in the firearms industry as they are a related business to Palmetto State Armory. We’ve had some great conversations with them over the past year – our initial review was highly critical of their coverage and they took it in stride with a promise to improve as they said that they were interested in providing great coverage at a great value. It honestly made me feel bad to write a non-positive review of them because I like them and what they stand for. However, you come to Gun University for the truth and not just marketing fluff – so that’s what you’re getting.
Thankfully, they have taken every point of feedback we’ve had and have shifted into a great value for CCW insurance and our grade for them has changed from a “C” previously, to an “A” now! In fact, they’ve grown into the best value in CCW insurance.
To us, this says a lot about the company.
Is self defense liability support needed?
Unfortunately, the fight can be even more difficult AFTER you’ve used your firearm in self defense. The 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.
Right to Bear insurance exists to help cover the costs associated with your legal defense in both criminal and civil cases.
How Much Does Right to Bear Coverage Cost?
Right to Bear self defense coverage used to have different tiers, however, they have recently changed their program to have one level of coverage that costs $125 per year (or $11 per month).
Right to Bear Insurance Coverage Details
Feature | Membership |
---|---|
Monthly Cost | $11 |
Annual Cost | $125 |
Criminal Defense Max | Unlimited |
Civil Defense Max | Unliimited |
Pick Own Attorney? | Yes |
Money Up Front? | Yes |
Per Diem Max | None |
What Does Right to Bear Cover?
Before we get into what RTB covers, it’s likely valuable to explore some broad areas of coverage common among the major self defense insurance providers.
After all, you’re a gun owner looking to exercise your second amendment rights and you want to be covered in case you need to use your firearm in self defense to protect yourself and your loved ones from violence.
As gun owners, gun ownership is a right we enjoy in the United States but it does come with responsibilities and requires a focus on gun safety.
First each of them charges a different amount and offers a different max dollar amount of coverage. This can be misleading as it is often the first and only thing someone looks at when they’re purchasing coverage: dollar amount of max coverage versus the dollar mount of monthly cost.
Second, and perhaps most important, they 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):
- Money up front
- Ability to choose your own lawyer
- Unlimited defense coverage
I’ll address these must-have ccw insurance features along with some of the other features to see how Right to Bear “stacks up” so you can decide if they’re right for you.
Criminal Defense Protection: Even if you think, and your friends all agree, that your defensive gun use was justified, you might still be prosecuted! Your criminal defense can be very expensive (it’s not unreasonable for things to START at $200,000) and although RTB used to specifically cap their coverage, they now offer “unlimited” legal coverage.
Civil Defense & Liability coverage: Previously, Right to Bear used to cap coverage depending on which tier a member was a part of and the amount needed to be shared between criminal and civil matters – however, the current RTB policy does not make a distinction between criminal or civil suits and will cover them each equally without limit!
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 on your own in case of a self defense gun use, perhaps insurance is not right for you? Right to Bear pays legal fees directly.
Bail: If you elect to pay an extra $35 per year (or $4 per month), you qualify for bail bond coverage up to $100,000 (with a max payment of $10,000). If the bond is over that amount, they’ll cover the first $100k and you can cover the rest.
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 used to be covered by RTB for an extra fee, however, their current policy has no provision for any per diem coverage. This may not be a big deal to everyone so we graded RTB in light of their low cost may justify not having this coverage.
Appeal Coverage: Under RTB’s previous policy, there was no coverage for appeals. This was a major concern for me. Our original review covered this and we included that we knew that they were working to improve their policy and had high hopes. For some good news to share, their current policy has been updated and it now includes coverage for appeals – this is wonderful and what we were hoping for.
Choosing Your Own Attorney: With Right to Bear, you can choose your own attorney but they must agree to RTB’s billing guidelines and they must be approved by RTB – this is reasonable and great news!
Firearm Replacement: If your firearm is confiscated as part of a justified self defense incident, RTB will replace your firearm with a firearm of equal value from Palmetto State Armory.
What’s Not Included With Right to Bear:
No Sales in NY, NJ, WA: Just recently the local governments for these three states banned the sales of “CCW insurance” programs. This doesn’t mean that your CCW insurance won’t work if you’re visiting there, it just means you can’t buy it if you live here. However, this is a limitation for all CCW insurance services right now.
Per Diem Coverage: As mentioned above, there is no longer any per diem (daily amount while in trial to offset lost wages) coverage offered.
Civil Liability: If you’re sued by an individual and found liable, then they do not cover the damages the court awards them. To some this may be a big deal as it is covered by some other companies, however, after thinking about it, It makes sense – RTB will pay for all of your legal fees but if you do something bad and lose a lawsuit, then they can’t be on the hook for that any more than they can serve any jail time for anyone.
Right to Bear 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 say that I do now recommend Right to Bear for your self defense legal protection – especially if the monthly cost is a concern for your budget.
Feature | CCW Safe | USCCA | Second Call Defense | ACLDN | U.S. Law Shield | Right to Bear | Firearms Legal Protection |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly Cost | $16-42 | $39-59 | $10-35 | $12 | $11 | $17 | $17-45 |
Criminal Defense Max | Unlimited | Unlimited | $100,000 | Unlimited* | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Civil Defense Max | Unlimited | Unlimited | $1,000,000 | Unlimited* | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Civil Liability Max | $1,500,000 | $2,000,000 | $250,000 | $0 | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Pick Own Attorney? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Money Up Front? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Per Diem Max | $1,000 | $750 | $500 | n/a | n/a | n/a | $300 |
See Details |
Right to Bear Review – Our Take
Right to Bear is clearly the BEST value in CCW insurance.
They made it as second on our list of best insurance for CCW – the only reason they aren’t #1 is because first place, CCW Safe, has more complete coverage. However, if you’re looking for the best value, it’s Right to Bear.
For any concealed carry insurance option, we strongly recommend looking for three basic ccw insurance requirements:
- The ability to choose your own attorney,
- Money up-front, and
- Unlimited defense protection
Right to Bear offers all 3 of these three basic “must-haves” and they’re the least expensive option available.
If you’re looking for extras like online training, or more features, then there are some other options for you. However, if you want unlimited legal defense for both criminal and civil cases, and you’re looking for the best value… you’ve found it.
As it stands now, Right to Bear is likely the BEST VALUE for your CCW Insurance. We encourage you to check out our Best CCW Insurance list to make a decision on which one is right for you.
Right to Bear Pros and Cons
- Low Price
- Can choose your own attorney
- Unlimited Coverage
- Optional Add-Ons
- Bail Coverage must be added and is capped for any coverage
- Per Diem no longer exists
Report Card | ||
Cost | One of the lowest cost options available | A+ |
Coverage | The legal defense dollar amount is now unlimited! | A- |
Features | Meets our basic 3 requirements but is missing some “extras” of other companies. | A- |
Value | Easily the best value in CCW Insurance | A+ |
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Some companies have the legal fees handled by an insurance underwriter (this model has been negatively publicized recently) while with at least one other firm you are retaining a law firm directly. How does RTB cover legal fees? Is it like a member co-op, does it have an insurance underwriter or are you dealing with a law firm directly.
I emailed Right to Bear and asked if they provided unlimited civil liability insurance as is indicated on the chart above, and they replied “That is not correct! We do not offer civil liability.”
Their website and their membership agreement very clearly state “Unlimited Civil and Criminal Legal Defense.”
Ryan – When RTB presented their coverage to our church security team, their rep specifically stated that RTB covered the civil liability award/judgement in addition to civil defense. He was questioned at least three times about this before the LEO who invited him told him he was incorrect. Another RTB rep has posted in an online forum the RTB covers civil liability. He later had to walk this back and then claimed that civil liability is the same as civil liability defense. Further RTB claims to cover $100K in bail and makes this sound like they will pay $100K and not just 10% of $100K…and as you know, if it’s a cash bail, they have really deceived the customer.
Civil Liability and Civil Defense are not the same thing.
Just looked on what is offered for RTB , gun replacement WAS listed as benefit.
Seeking clarification on what “legal defense dollar amounts is now “unlimited” but is only paid based on 6 months of revenue” means?
Does this mean only six months of attorney work is paid for? Some criminal trails can go on for years…
I did hear back from them today. According to their customer service person, they do have unlimited coverage for criminal and civil trial expenses, but do NOT cover any civil judgements that may be awarded to another party against me. And they do cover appeals for civil trials, but not for criminal.
Ryan, I’m very interested in RTB as a liability coverage company for my wife and myself. I’ve had a conversation with them and they were initially helpful, but they’ve stopped talking to me. I’m not a lawyer, so sometimes I may be asking for clarification when they think they’ve already done so. At least that’s my assumption.
Any way I’ve just reread your article. So, just to confirm they have unlimited coverage for the defense costs for criminal and civil cases as well as unlimited liability for any civil judgement that may come my way; is that correct? I understand that bail is something extra I’d have to buy and from reading thru the coverage document I see that I’d have to pay for things like private investigators.
And from your article it seems like they would also represent me during an appeal; correct? I can’t seem to find that in the document. Thanx…. Jon
Appreciate your detailed description of this Company. I am an NRA Instructor, and often asked about these different companies……I advise my students to do their own research.
But, that is you have a ccw, and carry a gun, it is not an option to have this coverage, it is a necessity.