海角大神

Is it easier for teens in some communities to get guns than it is to get books? President Obama seems to think so.

He claimed as much during an interfaith memorial service Tuesday for five Dallas police officers killed by a sniper last week.

鈥淲e flood communities with so many guns that it is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer, or even a book,鈥� Mr. Obama said.

Likely meant to shine a light on the lack of access to educational resources and the relatively easy access to guns in urban communities, the extraordinary claim was the most covered and criticized moment of the memorial.

Is what Obama said true? Obviously not. The Washington Post's Fact checker gave him . The Washington Examiner claimed it is for teens to get their hands on books than on a Glock.

Legally speaking, it's for licensed dealers to sell a handgun, like a Glock, to people under 21. With few exceptions, it's also against the law for people below 18 to own handguns. To acquire a handgun legally, gun owners must go through background checks, mandatory courses, and permitting.

And Glocks aren't cheap. They sell for , as low as $250 used, and as high as $1,500 to $2,000 on the black market.

Books and computers? No age limits, relatively easy access, and free, at a local library.

On the face of it, Obama's comments are absurd.

But take a closer look at the context:

"...[W]e ask the police to do too much and we ask too little of ourselves," he said. "As a society, we choose to under-invest in decent schools.聽We allow poverty to fester so that entire neighborhoods offer no prospect for gainful employment. We refuse to fund drug treatment and mental-health programs. We flood communities with so many guns that it is easier for a teenager to buy a Glock than get his hands on a computer or even a book.

"And then we tell the police, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e a social worker; you鈥檙e the parent; you鈥檙e the teacher; you鈥檙e the drug counselor.'"

"The implication underlying聽Obama鈥檚 comments is of course that he鈥檚 talking specifically about urban聽communities and other areas where gun violence is an epidemic," . "[I]t is tragically聽more difficult for those in low-income areas to finds bookstores, libraries, and computer stores."

"It鈥檚 easier to buy a gun than a book? Not if you鈥檙e buying legally," adds . "What Obama means, I assume, is that in poor neighborhoods with higher crime, illegal guns may be easier to come by than books. He鈥檚 trying to make a point, I think, about the murder rates in places like his hometown of Chicago, not an overarching statement about the general availability of guns everywhere...."

In other words, in some communities it is far easier than it should be to get a gun, and far more difficult than it should be to get a book or access to a computer.

That much, at least, is backed up by a recent study that identified "book deserts" in poor neighborhoods of Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles. The found that there were fewer bookstores in high-poverty areas where families can buy children's books.聽

In fact, in a middle-income community, thanks to plentiful bookstores, 13 books for each child were available, according to the study. In contrast, there was only one age-appropriate book for every 300 children in a community of concentrated poverty.

Is it easier for teens to get a Glock than a book? Not even close. Obama's claim is patently false. But we may be remiss in entirely dismissing it because the underlying message is important: In some communities, it's far too easy for teens to come by illegal guns 鈥� and far too difficult to come by a good book.