David Brooks: 'It’s Counterproductive To Have Bloomberg As Spokesperson for the Gun Law Movement'

Most of the anti-Second Amendment media have been predictably thrilled with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's call for stricter gun regulations in the wake of Friday's massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Apparently not New York Times columnist David Brooks who said on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday, "It’s counterproductive to have him as the spokesperson for the gun law movement" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

DAVID BROOKS, NEW YORK TIMES: Can I just say one thing about the, the debate we need to have? This has become, one of the problems for this debate is it’s become a values war. It’s perceived as urban versus rural. And frankly, it’s perceived as an attack on the lifestyle of rural people by urban people. And I admire Mayor Bloomberg enormously, there’s probably no politician I agree with more, but it’s counterproductive to have him as the spokesperson for the gun law movement. There has to be more respect and more people frankly from rural and red America who are-- who are participants in this.

Fascinating point, especially as Brooks said Friday, "It is a good idea to pursue more gun control."

Yet as he noted, doing so requires a greater amount of reverance for people in rural and red states that are going to be the most affected by such legislation.

As long as this debate like so many these days divides the nation along ideological lines, it will be impossible to establish a consensus regarding the issue.

If the left and their media minions try to force their will on the country as they similarly did with healthcare and are trying to do with tax hikes, nothing good will come of it.

As the mayor of one of the nation's largest and most-populated cities, Bloomberg does indeed represent the urban side of this debate and therefore might be harmful to the gun control movement's cause.

Regardless of the logic, it was none the less shocking to hear someone from the New York Times say such a thing on national television.