The way LNT works with radiation is that we knew a death-dose curve from the atomic bombs in Japan at extremely high dose. This was acute radiation poisoning (c

The way LNT works with radiation is that we knew a death-dose curve from the atomic bombs in Japan at extremely high dose. This was acute radiation poisoning (comparable to chemical poisoning). This response curve is precisely the thing that has been extrapolated down to miniscule doses just above background. The analogy you are critiquing with acute chemical dose is right on. The rifle fired at random in a room analogy is vastly more flawed and does not take into account how the body deals with radiation. There are cell damage events all the time, and there are repair mechanisms that fix them in the body at a baseline rate. These repair mechanisms make radioactive cell damage look a lot like chemical damage at low levels. Radiation has been a part of the universe forever. 50% of the internal heat of the earth is from radiation. Space is radioactive. Cosmic rays rain down on us all day and all night. The body can and does deal with this, up to a point, after which it becomes inundated. Thus, a small boost in radiation, far below natural background, cannot be expected to increase deaths.