Stephen King Discusses Book He Doesn't Want Anyone To Read
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The fifth episode of the CBS TV series "Under The Dome" aired Monday night on CBS4 and the adaptation of the Stephen King novel is a hit with viewers and critics.
King has had 50 books published, however, there's one book he doesn't want anybody to read anymore. In fact, it's the only book he wrote that's no longer being published.
"It's not in print because it was a novel about a kid who goes to school one day and shoots his algebra teacher and holds his class hostage," explained Stephen King.
In 1997, "Rage", published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, was found in the locker of a Paducah, Kentucky high school student, who shot and killed three of his classmates.
"That was enough for me," said King. "I don't think that books or movies are ever the cause of this sort of violence."
But King thinks violent books and movies can act as an accelerant.
"I didn't want "Rage" to be one of those accelerants, so I pulled the book, King said. "I felt that was part of a fantasy scenario with these people and I didn't want it to happen with anybody else."
"It was not gun control, it was book control in this case and I think there a lot of pro-gun people like Wayne LaPierre who could take a lesson from that and show a little more responsibility," said King.
LaPierre is executive director of the National Rifle Association.
"I have no patience with people of the LaPierre stripe who say, 'the deaths of innocent children or the deaths of unarmed bystanders is just part of the price we pay for our second amendment freedoms,'" said King.
LaPierre and the NRA did not respond to the request for a comment.
But Frank Jack Fiamingo, President of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society, did want to respond to King's comments.
"To control books on the basis that a single book might be misused or a single story might be misused and lead someone to perform an evil act is ridiculous, no offense to Mr. King," said Fiamingo.
Fiamingo, a fan of King's books, said that would also apply to gun control.
"There will always be somebody that will lose touch with reality or just have an evil intention and the good people must be able to defend themselves," said Fiamingo.
Fiamingo says the mission of his organization is to promote the safe and responsible use of firearms.
The membership of the New Jersey Second Amendment Society numbers around 3,000.
After the deadly Newtown, Connecticut school shooting, Stephen King wrote a best-selling e-book called "Guns", discussing his thoughts on gun control.
