Originally Posted by k71021
According to a published research paper by Miller M, Azrael D, Hemenway D. at your National Library of Medicine, between 1979 and 1997, "...almost 30,000 people died from unintentional firearm injuries, half of whom were under 25 years of age..." Let see, I found that on average ninety people die a year from lighting in the U.S., but let’s say it is one hundred that has been cited above. And let’s reduce the guys from Harvard University number to 29,000 since they say it is "almost 30,000". So 29,000 deaths/19 years = 1526.32 unintentional firearm related deaths per annum. Hmm, fifteen times higher. Is it Hollywood or statistics? You can decide for yourself.
Interesting side point, according to a paper by John Lott et al. unintentional firearm deaths are significantly more probable in rural areas than in urban areas. Now that is something I would have never learned from Boy’z in the Hood.
if you intend to compare death rates you ought to find some way to normalize them relative to exposure. lightning can strike virtually anywhere, regardless of whether there are people around; when a firearm discharges, however, there is always a person there. if you wander into an electrical storm, your chances of getting struck by lightning increase significantly. so it makes sense to consider the risk, when such storms arise.
my son took this picture of me on a cliff in mesa verde a few years ago; it was the closest i have ever come to being struck by lightning.
needless to say, we got the heck away from that ridge.