Malala Gave Obama Advice About Guns

Namely, send books instead
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 22, 2014 6:43 AM CDT
Updated Oct 22, 2014 7:33 AM CDT
Malala to Obama: Books, Not Guns Will Fight Terror
Malala Yousafzai holds up her Liberty Medal during a ceremony at the National Constitution Center on Oct. 21, 2014.   (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai says that when she met fellow laureate President Obama, she offered him a "very simple" message: Education is the best way to fight terrorism. "I said, 'Instead of sending guns, send books. Instead of sending weapons, send teachers,'" the girl shot in the face by the Taliban two years ago told Ronan Farrow at yesterday's Forbes Under 30 Summit; Obama's response, she says, was "pretty political." Meanwhile, Malala learned she'd won the Nobel while in chemistry class, where she stayed as the school day continued normally. And though speaking at the UN didn't make her nervous, she says that speaking at a school assembly after winning the Nobel did.

The award, she says, "gives hope to many young children and many young people that their work is appreciated, and that what they are doing for the cause of education matters." As for her own story, she says it's like a movie, NBC News reports: "At the end, the villain loses and the hero wins, and there is a happy ending." Malala received another award yesterday: the National Constitution Center's Liberty Medal, aimed at people who "strive to secure the blessings of liberty," Reuters reports; today, she'll receive honorary Canadian citizenship, the Ottawa Citizen reports. (More Malala Yousafzai stories.)

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