Assuming that a statistic is even grounded in reality at all, there are many ways to use statistics to mislead the public and further your political agenda.

The American anti-gun lobby are my personal favorite statistic abuse group. The Bell Campaign, organizers of the million mom march often cite the statistic that "Every day in America, twelve children are killed by gun violence."

Now of course, hearing this sentence, we think of Kayla Rowland, a six year old girl, shot by a first grade classmate in Michigan in 2000. The stat makes it seem that every day, 12 innocent six year olds are murdered because of guns.

However, the Bell Campaign's definition of children is very broad. Any person under 21 years of age.

According to the Justice Department most gun deaths in the United States are gang-related. Out of the twelve "children" killed, according to the Justice Dept, 10.5 are over the age of 16. Most of these are inner-city youth involved in gangs and drug trafficking.

Hardly innocent six year olds.

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