USCCA Review [for 2024] | Written by a Firearms Attorney

USCCA is one of the most talked about Concealed Carry insurance providers on the market. But is it worth it?

Unlike other articles out there, I am a firearms attorney and a certified insurance intermediary, and have consistently taken a deep look into their policy (and its changes over the years). So, in this USCCA review, I’ll let you know what you can expect and whether or not USCCA is worth it. However, I’m not YOUR attorney so this is not legal advice and only you can decide whether CCW insurance is right for your situation.

USCCA Review Update: Although I’ve had some issues with their policy in the past, USCCA has recently updated their terms and I’m really impressed with the coverage you can get by being a USCCA member. In fact, the value from a USCCA membership is so great, our co-founder Dave joined and became a member after reading this updated review….but did I? Read to find out.

But 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.

In this USCCA Review we’re going to cover:

• What is the USCCA?
• Should You Get Self Defense Liability Protection?
• How Much Does USCCA Cost?
• What Does USCCA Cover?
• Pros and Cons to USCCA
• USCCA vs Other CCW Insurance
• USCCA Review: Our Take
• Final Grade on USCCA

Why am I Qualified to Talk about CCW insurance?

When it comes to insurance policies (especially in the weapons world), the terms and caveats can be convoluted, and ultimately confusing. That is why there is so much wrong information written by other reviewers out there.

However, not only am I a firearms attorney, but I’m also a licensed insurance intermediary in 48 states with the exception of NY and NJ. This means that I approached my reviewing of the CCW insurance options with a legal analysis, backed by experience as an insurance intermediate (because both are incredibly important).

I spent time going through all of the legal documents, agreements and more to ensure that what is said on USCCA’s website is not only correct but fully understood. There were even a couple of times that I had to reach out to USCCA to clarify a couple of points. The key is, I left no stone unturned, and have consistently come back to this article multiple times a year to keep it up to date.

What is the US Concealed Carry Association (USCCA)?

The United States Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) offers legal protection for self-defense scenarios and many other resources for CCW education and firearm training to their 300,000 members.

Although it isn’t really “ccw insurance,” it’s the easiest way to explain what they provide and it is the most common term used to talk about such companies. Technically companies like USCCA offer self defense liability protection. And, in the case of USCCA, it is a member services company that provides training and resources to its members while also giving them access to the “liability insurance” all members enjoy.

The training and resources include online courses in topics like home defense fundamentals, reading material such as their Concealed Carry Magazine, and they even host a Concealed Carry Expo. As you can see, the USCCA is really the big-dog in the self defense insurance space not only because of all of these member benefits and resources, but also because of the level of coverage that USCCA insurance provides.

How Much Does USCCA Cost?

USCCA comes with 3 different membership levels–each with different costs and benefits.

However, the differences in each tier of membership are in the features and resources from USCCA – each tier gets access to the exact same level of self liability defense protection.

So, if you’re looking solely for legal liability protection, the Gold Tier (least expensive) is the smart choice. However, if you want all of the training and resources USCCA offers, you should check out the Platinum Tier (most expensive).

Which One Should I Choose?

Unlike many other CCW insurance companies, USCCA has made this pretty simple. All packages have the same coverage!

The only difference is that you pay extra for more training. Yup – that’s it. And, as I’ll cover later, the training is quite good. But the question for you is do you need training? If not, then Gold member is best. But if you want to access their Handgun Safety, Marksmanship Fundamentals, Qualifications training, and more.

By the way, one thing I really like about USCCA is that they are constantly giving away gifts or packages when you sign up. As of writing this, the above was what was offered. But in the past, its been things like Pelican cases, and more.

To check to see which gift you will get, be sure to click the below link:

So, What Does USCCA Cover?

Figuring out what is covered can be a bit complex. However, I can break it down for you with the below chart (which I’ve had to update over the years). Plus, I will explain further what each one means to you:

In summary, any of the three memberships in USCCA cover:

• Defense and Civil Expense: Unlimited
• Civil Damages Liability Max: $2 Million
• Covers Bail expenses: $250,000 of funds
• Per Diem Max: $750/day
• Loss of Earning (New): Up to $10,000 for loss of earnings within 30 days of incident
• Annual Liability Insurance Limit: $2,000,000

So, what does the above mean to you? Here is a breakdown of each and what that means:

Criminal Defense Coverage: Even if you believe that your defensive gun use is justified self defense, you might still be prosecuted. Hiring a criminal defense lawyer can be expensive and the USCCA now has no limit to how much they’ll pay for your criminal defense expenses. Unlimited legal coverage is a BIG deal!

Civil Defense Coverage: Even if you’ve been found “not guilty” and your self defense is justified, you might have to defend yourself against lawsuits from the person you shot, their family members, or others. Because defending these lawsuits (even if you win) can be expensive, the USCCA also provides unlimited defense coverage for civil lawsuits.

Civil Defense Liability: If you lose a civil lawsuit, you may have to pay “damages” (money) to the plaintiff. Although the USCCA doesn’t limit the amount they’ll pay in your defense, they limit the amount of damages they’ll pay if you lose to $2,000,000.

Up Front Money: If you need financial assistance with legal fees – you need it up front. Reimbursement might sound good enough, but that means you might have to cover hundreds of thousands of dollars on your own first. The USCCA provides the money, as it is needed, up front.

Bail: Unless you want to stay in jail until your trial, you might want bail money coverage. The USCCA provides up to $250,000 for bail bond funding. This is the highest amount for any provider.

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. So, we always recommend CCW insurance that pays you a daily allowance while you’re in trial (called a per diem). Some CCW insurance options don’t pay anything while USCCA pays the highest at $750 per day.

Training and Resources: I mentioned above that I often tell my legal clients that it’s often better to avoid a fight than it is to win a fight – this couldn’t be more true when it comes to a gun fight! However, if it’s time to use a gun to defend yourself or a loved ones, you better know what you’re doing. The USCCA provides training and resources to help you avoid fights and if you get into one, what to do once you’re there.

What’s Not Included With USCCA:

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.

How Does USCCA Compare to Other CCW Insurances?

Of all of the concealed carry insurance options available, the USCCA is the largest (over 300,000 members) and they offer the most resources. Also, the USCCA meets all 3 of our “must haves” for CCW insurance whereas some other options do not.

*No limit in policy, however, coverage is limited to amount in general fund

USCCA Features

1 UNLIMITED UP-FRONT LEGAL PROTECTION

Unlimited legal defense is great but it’s vital that you get money up front (unless you have a few hundred thousand available to wait for reimbursement later).

2 ONLINE TRAINING LIBRARY

USCCA has tons of resources to make you smarter and less likely to need to legal coverage!

3 CHOOSE YOUR OWN ATTORNEY

A large amount of money paid to a useless attorney equals your freedom at risk (and wasted money).

4 COMMUNITY/MEMBER PERKS

For members, the USCCA offers training, gear, industry partners, online communities, and more.

USCCA REVIEW – Do I Recommend it?

USCCA has great legal coverage and so many extra resources, I think that it’s a good option for ccw insurance and better than most out there.

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

However, if you’re a gun owner (especially if you concealed carry), and you’re concerned about the legal cost of a self defense incident, then you are likely checking out the USCCA on your quest to find the best concealed carry insurance.

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

USCCA has all three. We’ll cover each.

What I like about USCCA 

I love that the USCCA now offers unlimited legal protection in the defense of both criminal and civil cases. And now, they even cover ERPO/Red Flag issues (up to $15,000 in attorney’s fees)! This wasn’t always the case, and in the past, I used to not recommend them, or at least I put them lower on the list of best options.

I also like that they allow you to choose your own attorney – this is a big deal. Believe it or not, there are options for CCW insurance that require you to use the attorney they choose. I personally don’t like when that happens because you are powerless to choose, and who knows what level that attorney is…you’re at their mercy. But now, with USCCA, you can get recommendations from them, and choose whomever you please.

Another thing that is important to me is getting paid up front.

Reimbursement might sound like it is just as good as money up front, however, most people don’t have the few hundred thousand dollars that might be required to cover the costs until reimbursement happens.

If you’re paying for legal coverage that will help pay for your attorney – please make sure that you actually get the money up front to be able to pay your own attorney! Mark down another reason I like the USCCA.

The third requirement that USCCA meets is a daily per diem. A per diem is a daily amount of money, an allowance, that you get paid while in trial. This is very important! Your trial might last months and you likely won’t be able to earn money during this time.

Although a per diem probably won’t replace your income, it will definitely help and USCAA offers the highest per diem rate of any option we’ve seen (some don’t even offer any per diem allowance).

USCCA generally seems interested in educating you on how to avoid or survive gunfights and also how to handle yourself immediately after an incident.

For example, on the back of the membership card, they’ve included simple instructions for you to remember such as CALLING 911 FIRST!, then calling USCCA, and even instructions on how to deal with police officers.

USCCA also has a library of online training and member resources that makes USCAA a step above everyone else. Heck, even their free training and resources are super useful.

For example, USCCA offers a free series of “What Would You Do?” videos wherein they discuss a particular scenario and then cover some of your best options.

Check out this video from their “What Would You Do?” series on car jacking. If you become a USCCA member, you get the full analysis and breakdown.

If you’d like to see how the USCCA compares to other CCW coverage options, check out our Best CCW Insurance article.

What I don’t like about the USCCA:

The biggest concern I used to have from their policy was that it contained a “recoupment clause.”

From their policy, Section I used to say:

“We shall have the right to seek recovery or recoupment from an “insured” the amount of any payments made to, for, or on behalf of the “insured”, including payments made to third parties, if it is determined that any such payments were made for matters not covered by this Policy or are otherwise prohibited by applicable law.”

This meant that if it is determined that your incident wasn’t covered, whether it is found to not be lawful self defense or a law was broken like unlawful firearm possession, you could be required to to pay back all of the money that USCCA spent on your case.

This can be scary because it could mean that if you were found guilty then your incident wasn’t lawful self defense and you could be on the hook for all money paid.

Also, if you take a plea-deal for a “crime of violence” then your coverage ends. Their newest policy allows for plea-deals for things that aren’t crimes of violence without ending your coverage.

However, with their newest changes, they have now modified this clause in a good way!

The clause now reads:

“If required by applicable law, we shall have the right to seek recovery or recoupment from an “insured” the amount of any payments made to, for, or on behalf of the “insured”, including payments made to third parties, if it is determined that coverage provided by this policy and any corresponding payments were made for matters not permitted by applicable law”

This change makes it clear that the only time this clause would be triggered is if they were required to attempt recovery by a government (yes, this can be an issue in some states).

My Final Thoughts

With their new policy having unlimited coverage for your defense and their training and resources, I think that the USCCA is a strong concealed carry insurance. I personally didn’t choose them for my CCW insurance (I selected this one), however, my business partner did.

For him, he wasn’t dissuaded by the above clause, and since he valued the extra training more, he saw this as a better ROI and based on his experience with the classes, he loves the extra training he got.

So, it comes down to your preference. It you like the access to that extra content/courses, and materials, and see the benefit to it, but aren’t turned off by some of the things I mentioned, then USCCA is the best choice.

USCCA PROS AND CONS

Should You Get Self Defense Liability Protection?

It is up to you to determine whether legal protection coverage for CCW is right for you. This is because everyone’s situation, budget, and risk tolerance are unique and I can’t possibly know what’s best for you and your family.

However, I can tell you that I think it is worth the cost especially with what’s going on in the world today.

Why?

Well, defending your defensive gun use in criminal and/or civil trials can be VERY expensive (spending a few hundred thousand dollars, or more, is not unheard of). In fact, after you’ve used a gun to defend yourself, the fight isn’t over – in many cases it has just begun. This is where self defense liability insurance can really make a major difference.

As an attorney, one of the first things I tell my clients when they’re trying to figure out how to handle a particular problem is “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.