NRA May Need To Enter Liability Insurance Business

Des Moines Register:

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.”

A smaller Des Moines-area insurer — Continental Western Group, based in Urbandale — has followed EMC’s lead with a similar position in response to the new law, according to the Kansas Association of School Boards’ insurance program.
So has Wright Specialty Insurance, based in New York.

Huh, whodathunk more guns in schools might lead to more accidental shootings?  Clearly not the genius who introduced the bill:

Forrest Knox, the Kansas state senator who is the chief advocate of the new gun law, maintains that having legal guns in schools and other government buildings could prevent injuries. He’s been pushing the legislation for years.

Knox said that local governments are free to opt out of the law allowing weapons in public buildings, but only 300 of the 3,000 counties and municipalities in Kansas have sent letters to the state attorney general seeking exemptions....“I’m not an insurance expert, but it’s hard for me to believe that if schools and other public buildings allow law-abiding citizens to carry that that increases risk — it’s news to me,” Knox said. “Law enforcement responds better (to school shootings now), but it still takes a few minutes, and a lot of damage can be done in a few minutes.”

One thing you are right about, Mr. Knox, you're not an insurance expert.  Around here, one state representative would like all teachers to carry.  Remembering the teachers I had in school, I can't see that as being a good idea.  And what happens if the teacher misplaces the gun or has a student take it away from him or her?  That probably wouldn't make the school any safer.  We really need smarter elected officials.