One thing is certain in a civilized society: When zealots start getting their way, we've lost hope of maintaining peace and security.
It's important that our leaders ferret out the most dangerous extremists among us and not give in to their demands.
That's why we applaud Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen for bringing attention to the dangerous gun-rights advocates he says have sent him repeated death threats since he became speaker in January and over the past two months since he has squelched passage of a "constitutional carry" bill.
Bonnen's office this week released copies of about two dozen messages the Angleton Republican has received on social media and through emails and calls threatening physical harm. "Get a rope and hang him high," read one. "Off with his head," said another.
Those threats alone are reason enough for Bonnen to let Bedford Republican Jonathan Stickland's HB 357, which would allow Texans to carry without a license, die in committee.
"Threats and intimidation will never advance your issue. Their issue is dead," Bonnen told The Dallas Morning News.
Bonnen is right to send a message that violent threats can't take the place of reasonable debate about carry laws.
And, of course, there's no pleasing unreasonable fanatics. If they were clearer thinkers, they'd realize they're undermining their own cause. This kind of behavior could make the case for more-restrictive laws, not less-restrictive ones.
The leaders of two groups, Lone Star Gun Rights and Texas Gun Rights, on whose Facebook pages some of the threatening comments were posted, said they have had nothing to do with the threats and that their members have behaved peacefully and professionally.
So, we hope they join law enforcement officials in mounting the strongest possible investigation of these threats.
Let's call out these terrorist threats for what they are. We can't abide by such affronts to our safety and civility.
