Will homeowners insurance cover a gun collection?

Home insurance and renters insurance cover personal belongings, including guns, but you might need to purchase additional coverage to get full protection.

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Typically, the home insurance coverage limit for all of your home's contents is about 60 percent to 75 percent of the cost to reconstruct the house if it was destroyed – the amount for which you should insure your home. (Renters insurance covers contents and liability only.)

However, besides that overall limit on total contents, there are individual limits on certain types of valuable and hard-to-replace items, including jewelry, furs, antiques, electronics, and, yes, guns.

Check your insurance policy to see what those limits are and whether the coverage is enough to reimburse you for the firearms you own. Call your insurance agent if you're unsure.

Home insurance floaters, endorsements

If your guns are more valuable than the policy's limit, you can purchase additional coverage through a "floater" – a separate policy that covers a personal belonging – or an endorsement, an add-on to the home insurance policy. Sometimes this process is called "scheduling" items for coverage. You may need to get the guns appraised at your own expense to buy the coverage.

Or, you could buy gun insurance from a hunting organization. Safari Club International, for instance, offers gun insurance to its members. The coverage protects guns, accessories and other equipment you carry with you anywhere in the world against damage and theft. There is no deductible and typically no appraisal is required.

As a benefit to its members, the National Rifle Association provides $2,500 of ArmsCare coverage, an insurance plan that covers firearms, air guns, bows and arrows against theft, accidental loss and damage.

For more, see Get the home insurance facts and content coverage for apartments and condos.