(Editor’s Note: As the end of 2013 approaches, the Washington Examiner is shining a spotlight on its best columns of the year. Today, it’s senior political columnist Timothy P. Carney writing about the reaction to the Boston Marathon bombing less than a week after the event. This column first ran on April 21 and can be found in its original form here.)

“I do think we need more cameras,” Republican Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said the day after the Boston Marathon bombing. “We have to stay ahead of the terrorists.”