The opinion of Michael McCarthy (Voice, May 5) is typical of opponents of gun control. It is naive to assume that all rights contained in the Constitution are immutable through time and are unaffected by changes in technology. Just as the Founding Fathers could not have foreseen the limits to free speech as it pertains to television, they could not have foreseen the limits to the right to keep and bear arms as it pertains to automatic weapons and concealable handguns.
The beauty of the Constitution lies not only in the constancy of its ideals but also in its flexibility. A blind devotion to strict interpretation of concepts like the right to keep and bear arms strips the Constitution of this flexibility, thus creating a rigid document that cannot evolve with a changing culture. Opponents of gun control need to begin arguing their position relative to the problems of modern society instead of running to hide behind the 2nd Amendment every time someone mentions reasonable limits on the possession of weapons. It’s time gun-control opponents admit that today’s society is technologically different from that of the late 1700s and that policies need to be made that reflect that difference.
