The National Safety Council has compiled a morbidly fascinating statistics about the odds of dying from or being killed by a specific incident such as a lighting strike, drowning in a bathtub, cataclysmic storm and so forth:
For instance:
A lifetime odds of a person dying in a bus accident is 1 in 94,242; as a pedestrian 1 in 631, as a car occupant 1 in 247. Thinking about gun violence? The chances of you dying from assault by firearm is 1 in 324 and by sharp object 1 in 1,813 (1 in 12,121 during a legal intervention involving firearm discharge).
Link (Photo: Qole Pejorian [Flickr]) - via Miss Cellania
I only ask, because that is what would have happened if I hadn't owned a gun. Almost did anyway, but instead no one died that day, no one even got hurt after it was pulled out, just me before that.
It happened once though :-)
I find it interesting that you're more likely to be shot than hit by a car. Interesting... but not surprising. (I'm guessing these are American statistics.)
Odds of dying from strangulation with a rubber chicken: 1 in 12