The irony here is rich:
A new Kansas law allowing gun owners to carry weapons in public buildings, including schools, has thrust a major Des Moines-based insurer into the national gun control debate.
The EMC Insurance Cos. insures 85 percent to 90 percent of all Kansas school districts and has refused to renew coverage for schools that permit teachers and custodians to carry concealed firearms on their campuses under the new law, which took effect July 1. It’s not a political decision, but a financial one based on the riskier climate it estimates would be created, the insurer said.
“We’ve been writing school business for almost 40 years, and one of the underwriting guidelines we follow for schools is that any on-site armed security should be provided by uniformed, qualified law enforcement officers,”said Mick Lovell, EMC’s vice president for business development. “Our guidelines have not recently changed.”The Kansas Legislature passed the law after the fatal shootings of 20 elementary school children in Newtown, Conn., in December.
***“It’s one thing to have a trained peace officer with a gun in school; it’s a completely different situation when you have a custodian or a teacher with a gun,” Skow said. “That changes the risk of insuring a school and magnifies it considerably.”
Insurers simply don’t know how to price the added risk yet, he said, but they know it’s there.
Can’t wait for the first lawsuit that comes from a crazed, armed, teacher who still gets injured-but the the insurance company wouldn’t pay. Because “Murica”.