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Though some gun owners have accused State Farm insurance online of not being a good neighbor toward them, two claims — which appeared eighteen years apart — have proven to be outliers and not indicative of any bias against firearm owners or manufacturers. The most recent iteration of the claim is connected to a photograph circulating online of a letter dated 18 March 2018 from the company concerning a Minnesota-based gunmaking business applying for coverage: The photograph was subsequently circulated in various disreputable blogs, claiming that State Farm had been, among other things, cucked. A State Farm spokesperson, Sevag Sarkissian, would not comment on specific policies or applications. But he did tell us via e-mail: Insurance companies as a whole each weigh the types of products they take on for their policies, said Michael Barry, a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute, a non-profit trade group. I think it's fair to say that some products are riskier to ensure than others, he said: However, he said, that inherent risk is not an indicator of any industry-wide embargo against firearm makers: Eighteen years earlier, a South Carolina man also accused State Farm of discriminating against gun owners, saying that the company cancelled his homeowner's insurance policy after he revealed to an agent that he engaged in recreational shooting in a gun range on his property. The agent, he said, cited a factor of increased risk in terminating the policy, while also giving him seven days to find another insurer. Sarkissian told us: While not addressing the South Carolina man's case specifically, Michael Barry said that when insurance companies cancel coverage for policy holders, it is typically due to two reasons: non-payment on the policy, or a material misrepresentation on the part of the policy holder on their initial application. But he refuted the idea that State Farm or the insurance industry as a whole were dropping gun owners from their clienteles. I haven't even heard that anecdotally, said Barry, whose group is based out of New York: In February 2018, the National Rifle Association accused another company, Delta Airlines, of being biased against firearm owners after Delta announced that it would end a travel discount for the group's members. The airline responded by pointing out that a total of thirteen members had used the discount.
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