"And if you like your gun, you can keep it".  The history of mandated insurance in this country is not a good one.  Gun incident insurance would be incredibly expensive if it was even available.  And bad guys are not likely to purchase it.  But it is good that you and Patricia decided that it is too dangerous to have a gun in your home and chose to give them up.  Many people are not able to safely keep a gun in their home for a variety of reasons, such as anger issues, alcohol or drug abuse, depression or other mental health issues.  I absolutely agree they should make that choice.  Mental health care can help alleviate suicides, and training and awareness can help alleviate accidents.  As for defensive use of a firearm, studies have shown there are 500,000 to 3,000,000 defensive uses of firearms each year in the U.S.  Good article on defensive use of firearms here http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/cdc-study-use-firearms-self-defense-important-crime-deterrent