There were three letters in one issue (“Second Amendment Musing,” “Wrong on the Second Amendment,” “Correcting an Inaccuracy Regarding the Second Amendment” July 9, 2020) about the Second Amendment. What could have resonated with readers so fiercely? What prompted this barrage, this virtual, veritable fusillade of cannonballs? It was a dvar torah by Rabbi Moshe Taragin who had the temerity to state essentially that guns may do more harm than good. The responders’ lengthy arguments ranged from legal (the Supreme Court has ruled that there is an individual right to gun ownership, a 2008 ruling) to peculiar (the founders believed that the purpose of armed militias was to prevent domestic tyranny from our own government) to the NRA mantra (guns don’t kill people, people kill people).

It is important to understand that the interpretation of the Second Amendment is subject to change and has changed. There is no guarantee a future Supreme Court decision will not change the current interpretation. There are other debatable issues but that was Rabbi Taragin’s point––the Constitution is mutable/changeable whereas the Torah is not. I hope Rabbi Taragin is not intimidated by this pushback and will continue to consider how the Torah should influence current thought and practice.