Texas-Book-Gun Law Armed And Educated - Flipbook - Page 425
EXAMPLE:
Jeff is cleaning his 9mm handgun in the car. It accidentally
discharges, causing his passenger, Connie, severe injuries.
This event will almost certainly not be covered by auto insurance.
EXAMPLE:
Jeff discharges his 9mm handgun in the car at Connie during
an attempted carjacking, causing Connie severe injuries and also
hitting a bystander.
This event will almost certainly not be covered by auto insurance.
For an injury to fall within the “use” coverage of an automobile policy:
1) the accident must have arisen out of the inherent nature of the
automobile;
2) the accident must have arisen within the natural territorial limits
of an automobile;
3) the actual use must not have terminated; and
4) the automobile must not merely contribute to cause the condition
which produces the injury, but must itself produce injury.
Two Texas courts of appeals have used these factors to conclude
that a drive-by shooting does not arise out of the use of a vehicle.
Also, if the injury occurs when purposefully handling a gun (e.g.,
playing with it or intentionally shooting it), not in order to place
or remove the gun from the vehicle, there is no causal connection
between the injury and the use of the vehicle; the vehicle is merely
the place of the injury and its use incidental to the injury-producing
act. See Texas Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co. v. Sturrock, 65 S.W.3d
763 (Tex. App.—Beaumont 2001).
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