The use and abuse of statistics

“Politicians use statistics in the same way that a drunk uses lamp-posts —for support rather than illumination.”

-Andrew Lang

Main types of misuse

• Ignoring unfavorable Data• Wording of questions• Overgeneralization• False Causality• Data Manipulation• Biased Samples

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• According to the Brady Campaign to prevent gun violence an average of 268 people are shot every day in America. That means on average more than 11 people per hour are shot.

• Only 8% of all violent crimes committed in 2008, such as assault, robberies, sexual assault, rape and murders were committed by someone visibly armed with a gun.

• The 9 European nations with the lowest level of gun ownership have a combined murder rate that is 3 times greater than the murder rate of the murder rate in the 9 European nations with the highest rate of gun ownership.

• Car accidents and guns have long been the two non-medical leading causes of death in the United States. Bloomberg studied the trends over the last 31 years and found that car deaths have been trending down while gun deaths are trending up.

Bibliography

Synder, Michael. "18 Little-Known Gun Facts That Prove That Guns Make Us Safer."Infowars. Info Wars, 12 Aug. 2013. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. <http://www.infowars.com/18-little-known-gun-facts-that-prove-that-guns-make-us-safer/>.

"Gun Control Facts." By James D. Agresti and Reid K. Smith. Just Facts, September 13, 2010. Revised 2/11/13.http://justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp

"11 Facts About Guns." Do Something. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014. <https://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/11-facts-about-guns>.

"It's Time for Gun Sense in America." Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense In America. Moms Demand Action, n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2014. <http://momsdemandaction.org/>.

Images from:

www.Ibiblio.orgwww.cigarettestime.comwww.wikimedia.orgwww.momsdemandaction.orgwww.telegraph.co.uk