With NRA president Wayne LaPierre’s proposal to have all
teachers’ in America arm themselves with concealable handguns in the wake of
the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting last year, will insurance companies soon
provide handgun and assault rifle attack coverage for teachers?
By: Ringo Bones
The US Republican Party and the National Rifle Association
(NRA) might be now too beholden by the very profitable small-arms retail industry
in America to even look into the concept of “universal background checks” in
order persons with mental disorders can no longer just willy-nilly buy military
style assault weapons and then commit mass shootings like what happened in
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut back in December 14, 2012.
Even though NRA president Wayne LaPierre suggested that the only viable
solution is for teachers and school administrators arm themselves with
concealable small-arms as a way of preventing such attacks in the future is for
most of us a leap in logic that goes beyond normal logic. Even though
politicians – especially those as conservative as the US Republican Party – are
only concerned with rhetoric that make them look good and private small-arms sales
in America that enriches their own bottom line, will actuaries tenured by major
insurance providers that care only about truthful data be willing to agree with
their conservative “Red State” vision of America?
Sadly, actuaries care about truthful data – not conservative
rhetoric. As more schools in America consider arming their employees, some
school districts are encountering a daunting economic burden: insurance
carriers / insurance providers are now threatening to raise their premiums or
revoke coverage entirely. Looks like handgun and assault rifle attack coverage
for teachers in America or as a way to put it in another way, handgun attack
insurance and assault rifle attack insurance coverage for teachers in America
is now seen as “not economically viable” by most existing insurance carriers.
During legislative sessions of the first half of 2013, seven
US states enacted laws permitting teachers or administrators to carry guns in
schools. Three of the measures – in Kansas, South Dakota and Tennessee took
effect back in the first week of July 2013. But already, EMC Insurance
Companies – the liability insurance provider for about 90 percent of Kansas
school districts – has sent a letter to its agents saying that schools
permitting employees to carry concealed handguns would be declined coverage.
The insurer’s letter explained to officials in Kansas: “We
are making this underwriting decision simply to protect the financial security
of our company.” The “ghost” of the Sandy Hook elementary School mass shooting
may have yet to be exorcised out of the consciousness of the American psyche,
but it looks like handgun attack and assault rifle attack insurance coverage
for armed teachers is a loosing proposition and not economically viable.
