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Insurance Company Refuses to Insure Schools with Gun-Toting Teachers
Guns.Com ^ | June 21, 2013 | Jennifer Cruz

Posted on 06/22/2013 6:20:55 AM PDT by EXCH54FE

EMC Insurance Companies, the largest insurer of schools in the state of Kansas, recently announced that it would not be willing to provide policies to schools which allow their teachers or other staff, to carry concealed firearms on school property. The only exception would be for police officers.

The Topeka Capital-Journal broke the story after the company sent out a letter last month to school districts in the state declaring that their decision is “simply to protect the financial security of our company.”

EMC’s resident vice president, Bernie Zalaznik said, “We understand that school districts have every right to decide which way they want to go, but we have to make the decision based on what we perceive to be our best financial interest.”

Apparently the company perceives those who complete the process of obtaining a concealed carry permit, which includes a firearms safety class and complete background check, not qualified and too much of a financial risk.

The company’s announcement comes just weeks before a new state law is set to go into effect, which will allow teachers and other faculty to possess firearms on school property.

(Excerpt) Read more at guns.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2ndamendment; banglist; guncontrol; gunlaws; politics; secondamendment
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While there are two other carriers in the state, Wright Specialty Insurance and Continental Western Group, provide insurance to school districts, both of these companies have also expressed that they are not interested in covering such liabilities either.
1 posted on 06/22/2013 6:20:55 AM PDT by EXCH54FE
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To: EXCH54FE

Two can play this game: Maybe their license to do business in Kansas needs a review.


2 posted on 06/22/2013 6:24:04 AM PDT by Truth29
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To: EXCH54FE
OK...so the state's Insurance Commissioner de-certifies the company rendering it incapable of writing any policies in the state.Two can play at *that* game.
3 posted on 06/22/2013 6:24:45 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (The Civil Servants Are No Longer Servants...Or Civil.)
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To: EXCH54FE

well, they got it bass ackwards, the risk is higher when the teachers don’t have guns


4 posted on 06/22/2013 6:25:32 AM PDT by yldstrk (My heroes have always been cowboys)
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To: EXCH54FE

I wonder how these insurers are going to handle the liability claims for schools who refuse to protect their students - I would think that the potential for fiduciary loss would be much greater.


5 posted on 06/22/2013 6:25:45 AM PDT by centurion316
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To: Truth29
Two can play this game: Maybe their license to do business in Kansas needs a review.

Beat me by 40 seconds! Great minds think alike. ;-)

6 posted on 06/22/2013 6:25:59 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (The Civil Servants Are No Longer Servants...Or Civil.)
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To: EXCH54FE

If this is the non-issue that it should be, then somewhere there has got to be a firm that not only would do this but would offer a discount for it.


7 posted on 06/22/2013 6:26:49 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Whatever promise that God has made, in Jesus it is yes. See my page.)
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To: EXCH54FE
The only exception would be for police officers.

This is the loophole. Very easy to drive a semi through it: just deputize any teacher authorized to carry on school premises.
8 posted on 06/22/2013 6:27:57 AM PDT by tanknetter
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To: centurion316

Well, Roman soldier buddy, it would be. A nut bent on shooting up a whole classroom is not the only risk the school might face which could be mitigated by properly equipped teachers. The problem in America is not guns. It is people with evil hearts, which ultimately is a Satan problem.


9 posted on 06/22/2013 6:29:32 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Whatever promise that God has made, in Jesus it is yes. See my page.)
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To: tanknetter

If sheriffs are not so snobbish and departments are not so unionized as to prevent this.


10 posted on 06/22/2013 6:30:28 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Whatever promise that God has made, in Jesus it is yes. See my page.)
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To: EXCH54FE

What part of “concealed” is so hard to understand?


11 posted on 06/22/2013 6:31:00 AM PDT by G Larry (Let his days be few; and let another take his office. Psalms 109:8)
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To: yldstrk
well, they got it bass ackwards, the risk is higher when the teachers don’t have guns

Currently, if a school massacre occurs and there was no armed school staff to stop it, the insurance company is not liable.

But if a school employee, permitted to be armed on school property, shoots somebody (or while trying to nail an attacker shoots a bystander), then that IS something the school can be sued for.

If the state rules that the insurance company MUST cover such risks, then rates will either go up by a huge amount, or the insurance companies will exit the business of insuring schools.

12 posted on 06/22/2013 6:31:05 AM PDT by PapaBear3625 (You don't notice it's a police state until the police come for you.)
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To: HiTech RedNeck

Would be easier just to make the teachers an auxilary to the local police department.


13 posted on 06/22/2013 6:31:07 AM PDT by eastforker (Cruz for steam in 2016)
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To: Gay State Conservative
Amen, thats the way the lefties play the game, and how we better start playing it too!

I wonder how much pressure the left put on these schmucks to do that? Well, de-certify them and let them pound sand.

14 posted on 06/22/2013 6:32:25 AM PDT by nomad
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To: eastforker
Wouldn't it be easiest of all to simply remain silent on the issue of gun possession by school employees and just cite the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution if anyone asks why there is no policy against it?
15 posted on 06/22/2013 6:34:01 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I am the master of my fate ... I am the captain of my soul.")
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To: EXCH54FE
EMC’s resident vice president, Bernie Zalaznik said, “We understand that school districts have every right to decide which way they want to go, but we have to make the decision based on what we perceive to be our best financial interest.”

OK, let's take them at their word for a minute. If a situation arises where it can later be shown that their no-guns-for-teachers policy CONTRIBUTED to the carnage, are they willing to pay out more and also to get sued for wrongful death over the policy?

16 posted on 06/22/2013 6:35:24 AM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: PapaBear3625
Currently, if a school massacre occurs and there was no armed school staff to stop it, the insurance company is not liable.

I understand your rationale here, but for insurance companies the term "not liable" is a very gray area. An insurance company would be obligated to pay for the legal defense of a municipality, a school board, or a school employee in such a case, so there would be enormous costs -- and maybe even a large out-of-court settlement -- even if the insurance company's client is technically "not liable."

17 posted on 06/22/2013 6:37:12 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I am the master of my fate ... I am the captain of my soul.")
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To: eastforker

Whatever would be a blessing, would be great. A permanently ready posse would be more in the spirit, I’d think. I think the bigger problem is that the actuaries are worry warts.


18 posted on 06/22/2013 6:38:09 AM PDT by HiTech RedNeck (Whatever promise that God has made, in Jesus it is yes. See my page.)
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To: EXCH54FE

Fine. Schools should self-insure. When someone has a legitimate claim, the school should pay it without going to court. When someone has a frivolous claim, the school should fight it for decades, until the parasite is dead of old age, while pointing out to potential jurors that rewarding the greedy claimant will merely raise taxes on their neighbors and reduce funding for the school’s real work.


19 posted on 06/22/2013 6:38:12 AM PDT by Pollster1 ("Shall not be infringed" is unambiguous.)
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To: PapaBear3625
"Currently, if a school massacre occurs and there was no armed school staff to stop it, the insurance company is not liable."

Then make them liable for the deaths in massacres where a "gun free zone" is involved, anyone who doesn`t have some kind of armed security needs to held liable for such an egregious oversight.

20 posted on 06/22/2013 6:38:18 AM PDT by nomad
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