In Copenhagen, shots fired were at Western democracy

At a freedom of speech gathering in Copenhagen, Denmark, early today this happened:

A debate over free speech in an age of terrorism took a dark turn in Copenhagen. A volley of gunfire ripped through a cafe where an artist from the 2007 controversy over drawings of Mohammed spoke. Early reports say Lars Vilks was not injured, but at least two others were...

The shots that were fired were not aimed at individuals. Nominally they were, but the bigger picture is a radical Muslim assault on free speech. All of these recent attacks are not attacks on Westerners, but an attack on our values. This was an attack on free speech. Liberty requires free speech. Free speech can be insulting. But free speech is such a fundamental western value that to attack it is to attack at the heart of Western civilization.

To not defend it forcefully and with everything at our disposable, is to show we do not believe in our civilization and that we do not believe in ourselves.