To the Editor:

After the killings at Newtown, we seem prepared at last to examine the place of guns in our society. For too long it has been assumed that we must remain silent. Gun regulation has been the great untouchable.

All of our rights come with responsibilities and limitations. Among the rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights, I especially cherish our First Amendment right to freedom of speech. However, every schoolchild learns Oliver Wendell Holmes’ example of limitations on freedom
of speech – that you may not falsely shout “fire” in a crowded theater.