David Brooks, "The Second Wave": Pressure Cookers in the Hands of Terrorists Can Kill Just as Easily as Guns

Quite honestly, I am more troubled by the bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon than by partisan politics.

What now happens with respect to efforts to legislate new gun control laws? I favor a ban on the sale of assault rifles and stricter background checks, but Americans have just discovered that pressure cookers in the hands of terrorists can kill just as easily as guns. It is all a matter of intent.

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "The Second Wave" (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/opinion/brooks-the-second-wave.html), David Brooks informs us that "the gun issue will not significantly damage the Republican Party." Brooks's conclusion:

"It would be great if Republicans can hash out their differences over a concrete policy matter, especially immigration, which touches conservatism’s competing values. But if the insurgent right defeats immigration reform, that will be a sign that the party’s self-marginalization will continue. The revolution devours its own."

The evolution of the Republican Party? Republicans against Democrats? Sorry, David, but who gives a damn about self-serving politicians when American values, institutions and traditions are under attack?

Will the travesty in Boston be quickly forgotten? I hope not. If lessons are not quickly assimilated, another disaster of this kind is apt to occur all too soon.