What is Active Shooter Insurance and How can it Help You?

Due to the rise of mass shootings in America in recent years, a new form of liability insurance has come to market: active shooter insurance. What is an active shooter?

According to the FBI, an active shooter is “an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area.” There were 333 FBI-designated active shooter incidents in the U.S. from 2000 to 2019.

What is Active Shooter Insurance?

Active shooter insurance is a stand-alone policy marketed toward schools, businesses, and municipalities. It’s a type of gap coverage used to fill in gray areas within general liability insurance, which doesn’t cover acts of active shooters or workplace violence.

This new policy covers the following: property damage, loss of business income, medical expenses, counseling, funeral costs for victims, and provides liability protection.

The coverage limits and premiums vary based on the location, the number of employees and visitors, etc.

Who Benefits from Active Shooter Insurance?

Highly traveled and easily accessible public places are more prone to active shooters, so venues like universities, businesses, places of worship, municipalities, and schools benefit from buying this coverage.

These types of venues benefit when it comes to having coverage because they’re held to a high standard to keep their visitors and employees safe and must pay certain damages and expenses in the instance of an active shooter. Having this extra layer of protection helps with any expenses related to an active shooter or instances of related violence.

This isn’t a problem that’s isolated to one region or type of business/organization, so venues in all parts of the country and every industry benefit from having this type of insurance policy in place.

What Does Active Shooter Insurance Not Cover?

Although having this insurance plan covers gaps in general liability insurance, there are some exceptions.

Below is a list on some of the most common exclusions:

• Employee Exclusions: Some policies only include customers or guests, so it’s important to make sure your employees, volunteers, students, etc. are also covered.
• Vehicle Exclusions: Certain policies may exclude attacks on cars or vehicles.
• Casualties: Most workplace shootings involve less than three injured people, so it’s important to look into this part of your policy, as many have a threshold of more than three injured individuals before payout becomes available.

The best way to decide if active shooter insurance is right for you is to find gaps in your general liability insurance and see if active shooter insurance can fill these holes. There’s a wide range of coverage, so deciding what’s right depends on how big those gaps are and how important it is to fill them.