I am
now insured for injury or death if caused in part or completely by acts of
terrorism or unlawful actions.
In the
USA.
I was
unsure if such cover was on my travel insurance and so I rang and checked after
I watched news reports this evening another young white American male who took
a gun to school and tried to kill all of his classmates
He
succeeded in killing ten and maiming many others.
These
mass shootings – that occur mostly in schools – occur every thirteen days here
in the US.
They have
been happening for decades.
It is
frightening.
It is
madness.
It is
however insurable.
When I
rang up the US Agent of insurance company that I bought my travel insurance from
he told me that being in the US meant that I was now more than seven hundred
and eighty times likely to be shot than where I bought my Singapore policy.
I told
him that I wasn’t that surprised.
The
Insurance Agent’s name was Hank.
When I
asked Hank if I was covered for death or injury caused by acts or terrorism he
asked me if I was affiliated with or the subject of any organisation or any sect
that promoted acts of violence or hatred.
I told
Hank only the Human Race.
He snorted
in gruff acceptance.
After
some clicking and clacking on his keyboard Hank told me that I might not be
covered if it turned out any injuries or death I sustained was as a result of
me being a specific target of a terrorist action.
“Like a jihad Hank?”
“Yep”
“Against me specifically?
“Yep”
I don’t
think that I am the target of any extremists but I can’t say for sure.
“What about being maimed or killed
collaterally?
“Covered” Hank informed me.
“A million for medical expenses and two
million for death”
he added.
I
thought these seemed sufficient amounts.
“Will you be visiting any schools whilst
you are here?”
Hank asked me.
I told
him that I was not.
Hank
told me that the campus of an American high school was statistically the most
likely place to be shot dead or maimed.
Fancy
that.
A male
American between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five would likely undertake the
shooting and they will be armed with multiple automatic or semi automatic
weapons and many surplus rounds of ammunition.
They
are generally armed to the hilt and have a thought-out and sometimes drawn out
plan of homicide.
The
shootings would most likely occur in the late morning or early afternoon.
Even
teenage terrorists are late risers.
American
citizens own an estimated 270 million guns and a little over 3 million new guns
are manufactured and sold each year. One third of the population is armed. In
the first half of this year alone nearly 7000 Americans were shot dead.
Hank
told me that he thought I would also be covered if I were maimed or killed as
collateral damage if I happened to be walking past a school and another such
shooting were to go be going on.
I told
Hank that I would completely avoid knowingly going near any educational
institutions here in America.
They
are dangerous places.
I
asked Hank if my insurance also extended to cover me in the event of an
earthquake or a Tsunami.
When
he asked me my whereabouts in the US and I replied that I was in Los Angeles he
made some more tut tutting noise.
“A force majeure. Not covered,” Hank replied.
“Seismically a very dangerous place to
be” he added.
“Smack on the San Andreas Fault and
overdue for a big one”
I agreed
I
negotiated additional cover for earthquakes and Tsunamis – including search,
rescue and repatriation cover.
It
wasn’t cheap.
I was
in Kathmandu in Nepal when the second earthquake struck there earlier this year
and I thought for sure that I was then going to die.
I saw buildings
crumble and fall and I saw many people perish in only a minute and a half of
violent waves of shaking.
Never
before have I tasted such fear and fallibility.
It was
truly terrifying.
I told
this to Hank whilst he was taking my credit card details for payment of my
extra coverage – which now included Identity Theft. It is a major problem here
in the US and television shows are punctuated by advertisements telling
Americans that one case of Identity theft occurs every three seconds. There are
also major television advertising campaigns promoting the long-term use of anti
anxiety medication.
For
whole families.
It is
quite depressing.
When I
asked Hank if there was any other insurance cover he thought might be necessary
for my rather long stay in the US we went through the limits and exceptions to
the policy I had bought.
Hank
told me that I was statistically more likely to be shot, run over or drowned
than any other loss event and he told me to be careful where I went.
He
repeated his earlier advice that I should avoid schools.
I
asked Hank if he thought I would be safer if I bought a firearm whilst I was
over here and he said that is it probably wasn’t such a bad idea.
He
told me that he had a couple.
I
asked Hank that if I bought a gun here would the Insurance Company give me an
“I’m packing” discount on my excess and he told me that he thought that they
wouldn’t but he said it was a good idea.
He in
fact said it was a “mighty fine idea”
I have
fired a gun once before and the friends with whom I am staying have a couple of
firearms here.
I have
seen them.
One of
them is a Gloch pistol and another is an enormous Magnum - and my friends are
licensed to own and fire them.
They
wont let me shoot them though.
I have
asked.
Repeatedly.
When
we were having dinner outside the other night on a balmy Vegas summer evening a
drone buzzed in out of nowhere and sat hovering in my friends garden - less
than ten meters from where we were eating.
We
were all a bit surprised.
It
wasn’t particularly big and it made a quite soft buzzing noise as it sat there.
Observing
us.
I
asked if anyone could see whether or not anyone could tell if it was weaponised
and no one could say for certain.
I
called for the Gloch and the Magnum – and there was a bit of a rushed
consultation amongst the Americans. I thought it would be an almost immediate
and automatic response here.
Blow
it away.
One of
them grabbed the hose and sprayed the drone – which quickly made it zip up and
scoot away.
So we
assume it was at the very least camera-carrying.
The US
army use the same ones to shoot people and to blow things up.
After
the excitement of the desert drone incident my American friends told me that
there are quite a lot of drones buzzing their way around the Nevada and
Californian skies.
Anyone
can go and buy and build a kit and quite a few obviously do.
Although
the water drenching solution to drive the drone away was effective, the
engineers and lawyers amongst the group quickly suggested that having an automatic
drone intrusion system would be the way to go.
They
suggested that installing a drone defense system where your own drones would
detect and respond to any drone intrusion on your property and then blow them
away.
Seek
and destroy.
It is
the American way.
No comments :
Post a Comment