Gun homicides and the threat of Islamic terrorism: a bit of perspective

[smoogatz]

Total number dead due to acts of Arab/muslim terrorism on U.S. soil in all of American history: 2,973
Total number of U.S. gun homicides from 1976 to 2004: 369,888 (slightly more than the current population of Colorado Springs, CO)

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/tables/weaponstab.htm

[INDIA]

1. Thought provoking statistics...

but two things to keep in mind.

1. Those 2,973 deaths happened all in one single day, in front of TV cameras. It's natural that people would react more strongly to this than to shootings going on in "bad" neighborhoods that they don't see.

2. Terrorism is not just a threat to human lives, because of the fear it provokes in people, it is a threat to our entire economic system. The recession, including massive layoffs, following 9-11 took years to come back from. It's effects are felt much more severely than spread out and sporadic gun deaths.