So far this year, seven states have passed laws allowing guns in schools. In three of those states, the laws took effect last week. However, there’s one obstacle that lawmakers failed to factor in as they forged ahead with their plans. That obstacle? Insurance!
In Kansas, a state with a newly valid law, 85-90% of school districts are covered by one company, EMC Insurance. The company has balked at renewing coverage for districts whose employees carry concealed weapons. EMC Spokesman Mick Lovell?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. Our guidelines have not recently changed.
So take that, state legislature! Two other companies operating in the state–Continental Western Group and Wright Specialty Insurance–have followed suit, so to speak. The concern, after all, is who will be sued if there’s a gun accident in a school. Ladd Everitt, of Washington D.C.’s Coalition To Stop Gun Violence, pointed out:
This is a logical response from insurers to a risk nightmare. Putting a teacher or an administrator with little firearms training in a school with a loaded weapon is clearly a threat to everyone, including the kids.
The fact is obvious to many, even to insurance companies. However, the companies’ protective stance toward their bottom line seems to have come as a big surprise to some officials. For the school district of Jackson County, Oregon, the plan to arm and train a staff member for each of 10 schools would now cost over $50,000 a year. Administrator Scott Whitman is having to take a second look at the decision, explaining:
Pretty much every last bit of our money is budgeted. To me, that could be quite an impediment to putting this forward.
Are they just discovering what most schools have been grappling with for years– that they have no money? Well, perhaps the National Rifle Association would like to overcome that impediment and play benefactor by covering the liability for all newly armed schools across the nation. After all, this was their idea in the first place.
In Indiana, Noble County Sheriff Douglas Harp?was all set to deputize teachers with $27,000 worth of donated handguns. BUT– the insurance company wouldn’t provide workers’ compensation under those conditions. School administrators no doubt started to wonder how well their employees–or they, themselves– would deal with recovery from an on-the-job gunshot wound without workmen’s comp.
Still, fans of conceal-and-carry laws haven’t given up hope. After all, arming school personnel is the top ‘safety’ procedure recommended by the NRA. Diehards point to three community colleges in Kansas where concealed weapons are allowed on campus. These colleges have actually found a new insurance carrier. The hope inspired by this fact is that K-12 schools will be able to shop around and ultimately succeed in finding coverage also.
One of those who remain dubious is Jenny Emery, head of the Association of Governmental Risk Pools. She represents a group of public entities who, together, seek lower insurance rates. She told the New York Times:
I haven’t seen evidence yet that suggests people are determining that arming teachers is a recommended way to manage risk. Far from it.
Risk evaluation and its resultant spreadsheets are the unexpected manna from heaven that has fallen into the hands of those opposed to concealed weapons in schools. The man who oversees insurance programs for the Kansas Association of School Boards has suddenly stopped getting calls about arming school employees–ever since the state’s major insurance companies announced their decision to deny coverage. He pretty well sums up the situation:
If there’s no insurance available, it’s difficult to do anything.
Indeed. And–I never thought I’d be saying this–but a big Thank You to the insurance industry!
Edited and published by CB
