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To: JTN
You're about as likely to be killed by a lightning strike as by a terrorist attack.

There are about 75 lightning deaths in America each year. That means that in 2001 you had about one chance in 4,000,000 of dying from a lightning strike.

That compares to a one in 100,000 chance of dying in the 9/11 attacks, or a 40 times greater chance than dying from a lightning strike.

You need to work on your math skills.

72 posted on 09/23/2007 12:15:47 PM PDT by Sherman Logan
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To: Sherman Logan
There are about 75 lightning deaths in America each year. That means that in 2001 you had about one chance in 4,000,000 of dying from a lightning strike. That compares to a one in 100,000 chance of dying in the 9/11 attacks, or a 40 times greater chance than dying from a lightning strike.

Yes, but 2001 is not the only year in which terrorist attacks have been used as a weapon. They've been used for a very long time, and for maximum accuracy, the threat needs to be assessed with as large a sample size as possible. The actual threat of dying from a terrorist attack is astronomical. About the same as a lightning strike - and that's when you include September 11th in the statistics.

But even if you look at only 2001, the death rate from terrorist attacks was, as you said, about 1 in 100,000. The overall homicide rate in 2001 was 5.6 per 100,000. Yet, in spite of the fact that you were five times more likely to be killed in an ordinary homicide than in a terrorist attack, no one has suggested the government be given broad new powers to deal with the homicide threat.

146 posted on 09/23/2007 2:50:14 PM PDT by JTN (If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.)
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