Late Thursday afternoon, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression issued a statement defending the right of booksellers to sell two books that became involved in controversy during the week—The Anarchist Cookbook and Happy Happy Happy. “Booksellers sell books, including books that some people find offensive,” said Chris Finan, president of ABFFE. “While booksellers make individual choices about what to sell, we believe our customers have a right to purchase any book that is protected by the First Amendment.”
The Anarchist Cookbook came under fire when it was revealed that the teenager in last Friday’s school shooting in Colorado, Karl Pierson, reportedly read the book. The author of The Anarchist Cookbook then spoke to press outlets about the fact that he had asked the book's current publisher to stop selling the title.
The sale of Happy came into question when author Phil Robertson, patriarch of the Duck Dynasty family (which is featured on their own A&E reality show), was criticized for an interview he gave to GQ in which he was critical of “homosexual behavior.”
