renner@uiucdcs.UUCP (01/20/85)
> Do you realize that you have a greater chance of being killed by a handgun > in the United States than you do of being killed by terrorism in Northern > Ireland? I hadn't realized it because it isn't true. It took a while to get enough data to work out the relevant death rates, but here they are: -------------------- | Civilian death rate from terrorist-related violence in Northern Ireland: | assuming all deaths occurred in Belfast: 46.1 per 100,000 | assuming even distribution throughout N. Ireland: 10.7 per 100,000 | | Death rate in the United States: | from all handguns, 1984: 4.7 per 100,000 | from murders (no suicides, accidents), 1982: 3.7 per 100,000 -------------------- The chance of being killed with a handgun in the US is between 2 and 10 times less than the chance of being killed by terrorist-related violence in Northern Ireland. Sources: Flackes, W.D. _Northern Ireland: A Political Directory, 1968-79_. U.S. Statistical Abstract, 1984. Scott Renner {pur-ee,ihnp4}!uiucdcs!renner