Letters: More on Guns, Beth Sholom

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Gun Law Changes More Likely Than Second Amendment Changes
As always, Jonathan Tobin’s opinion column (“The Only Honest Discussion About Guns Rests on the Second Amendment,” June 2) is straightforward and insightful.

Tobin argues that the Second Amendment is at the heart of our gun issues, and thus should be at the heart of the gun debate. He apparently believes that no meaningful solution to the gun problem can occur without changes to or a repeal of the Second Amendment.

The practical realities are that changes or repeal will not happen. The principal process for amending the U.S. Constitution requires an affirmative two-third vote of both houses of Congress, and a three-fourths vote of the state legislatures. There is no chance of that occurring on this issue.


Therefore, we must pursue those fixes that are politically attainable, such as the Manchin-Toomey initiative still pending, or the recommendations to come from the Murphy-Cornyn efforts now underway. Voters must make politically attainable and legally sustainable fixes a priority and make that priority known to their representatives.

Steven Stone, Maple Glen

Op-ed a Bad Editorial Decision
I am writing in regards to an editorial decision that was made to print an op-ed by Jonathan S. Tobin regarding gun control (“The Only Honest Discussion About Guns Rests on the Second Amendment,” June 2).

Tobin is entitled to his opinion. It is misguided at best (and out-and-out chillul Hashem at worst), but he is certainly entitled to express it.

However, a line must be drawn when Tobin makes statements that are false. For example, in part of his dismissal of common-sense gun laws, he states: “Efforts to ban certain kinds of guns, like assault rifles, including the widely popular AR-15 that has been used in mass shootings, ignore the fact that the difference between these weapons and others is largely cosmetic.”

That is an obviously false statement. An assault rifle is a military-grade weapon that fires bullets in rapid succession, mowing down many people at once. It hardly even needs to be aimed to be deadly. There is a reason the AR-15 has been the weapon of choice in many mass shootings. It is — obviously — because this weapon is designed for … mass shootings.

Jewish Exponent editorial staff, please be responsible, and do not publish an outright falsehood like this in your pages.

Carol Fleischman, Ardmore

Beth Sholom Article Hit the Spot
As a Beth Sholom congregant for the past 27 years, thank you for Sasha Rogelberg’s nice piece on our shul and its “storied roots” involving architect Frank Lloyd Wright (“Beth Sholom Congregation Celebrates Storied Roots,” June 9).

Your wonderful article would be incomplete without mention of our “Minyanaires” — a group of devoted members who for the past 40-plus years meet each weekday at 7:30 a.m. to daven Shachrit with intensity, pride and love for Judaism and G-d. It is a rich tradition; it is the kindling that keeps the flame of Beth Sholom burning so intensely and a major inspiration in my life and the lives of so many others.

Simon Rosen, Melrose Park

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