“‘It’s not just mass shootings,” Obama said to 200 Hollywood-infused Democratic donors in upscale Pacific Palisades, “It is the daily shootings that take place in cities across America [where] it is easier to buy a gun than buy a book.” On one level, President Obama’s pronouncement to a gathered group of Hollywood royalty makes perfect sense . . .
I’m sure it’s easier for the gang bangers in his home town to buy a gun than a book. Not that there’s a lack of bookstores in The Windy City. Or that buying a book online is a particularly onerous endeavor. But I think it’s safe to say that the thugs wielding firearms in mostly urban areas would find the book buying process extremely difficult.
For one thing, they’d have to know how to read. The literacy rate in Chicago, for example, where two of the public schools bear the President’s name, is 53 percent. And you can bet that the literacy standard is hardly what you and I would consider adequate.
Second, it would be extremely difficult for these wayward youths to choose suitable literature. Most popular books have a strong moral component, which runs contrary to the cultural milieu in which they find themselves. For reference, my friends and I started a drinking game based on MTV’s Cribs. One shot for every book shown. Not a single drink was imbibed.
In short, yes, it’s harder for them to buy a book than a gun. And that tells us more than the President would ever admit about his failed social programs and the disastrous state of the communities where firearms-wielding criminals live and work.