You’re reading Significant Digits, a daily digest of the numbers tucked inside the news. We’re at the end of a week of guest writers, and your new daily host will be revealed on Tuesday. In the meantime, you’re stuck with features editor Chadwick Matlin.
1 gun store
There’s only one place to officially buy guns in Mexico, and it’s on a military base. Yet gun violence is on the rise in the country. So where are the guns coming from? Mexico’s northern neighbor. An estimated 580 weapons illegally move from the U.S. to Mexico every day. Compare that to the 38 guns that the country’s sole gun store sells every day. [The Los Angeles Times]
6 seconds
In March, an automated car caused a fatal accident for the first time after it struck a bicyclist in Arizona. The car was being driven by a computer, not a human, and a new government report found that the computer recognized something was in the road nearby a full six seconds before it struck the victim. But because the computer couldn’t classify what the object was, it failed to avoid hitting her. Uber has closed down its self-driving program in Arizona as a result. [Slate]
8 women
Actor Morgan Freeman has reportedly been a sexual harasser for years, according to several women who say they were victims of his advances. Eight women confirmed to CNN that Freeman had behaved toward them in ways that they felt was inappropriate. Some women said it qualified as harassment, others as inappropriate behavior. [CNN]
52 percent
A majority of Americans don’t approve of President Trump’s performance — but a majority of Americans do approve of his work to denuclearize North Korea. His efforts on North Korea received the highest marks of any major issues that he deals with. 52 percent of Americans approved of his performance on the issue; 38.7 percent disapproved. We’ll have to wait to see whether Trump’s cancellation of a planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un changes those poll numbers. [FiveThirtyEight]
90 percent
Natural disasters are not equal opportunity calamities. A Small Business Administration analysis found that about 90 percent of the country’s damage costs from natural disasters happen in ZIP codes with less than 20 percent of the country’s population. If you’re in the mood to see what that looks like on a map — or want advice of where not to move — the New York Times has done yeoman’s work in compiling more than a decade of disaster data. [The New York Times]
$300 million
How do you make a video game that can gross hundreds of millions of dollars in a month? Make it free. “Fortnite,” a game in which dancing is nearly as integral as shooting, made $300 million in April despite being free to play. The key: lots of things for people to buy once they’re hooked. The company that makes the game is happy to sell you costumes, season passes, and, yes, dances for a nominal fee. [The Verge]
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