You wouldn't know that from looking at the discussion here. I think a more hacker newsy kind of thing would be an actual discussion of risks with some mathematical modeling, not a discussion of current events from cnn.com, with statements that are bound to set certain people off.
Guilty as charged. It's too tempting to slide into "pro-gun vs gun control" discussion even if the topic is "overreaction to extremely low probability events".
While I can sort of see where you are coming from, I think there is something else worth pointing out that does make this at least somewhat Hacker News worthy. Bruce Schneier is a world leader in cryptographic analysis[1]. He is very much a part of the hacker community. He is well known for being quite analytical and to the point in a fashion that other "reporters" are without. I, for one, very much appreciate when he talks about issues of this magnitude, for that very reason, and I don't think I am alone here.
