Terms like homophobia have come to be the accepted nomenclature to describe anyone that opposes a political agenda that is advocated by the mavens of our American media-political complex. Control of the language ensures cultural dominance. For example, opposing government entitlement programs translates into hate for minorities. And many Americans are now convinced that actually enforcing immigration laws indicates fear of people that don’t speak English.
According to my sources, the Yiddish term “maven” became common in political parlance during the 1980s when William Safire, the Conservative mantelpiece at the New York Times, began describing himself as “the language maven“. A maven is someone who has a disproportionate influence on other members of his or her network.
The role of mavens and psycholinguistics in propagating opinion has been well-documented. It may someday become common to read stories in magazines and newspapers about hoplophobia; i.e., morbid fear of guns! The Bellevue-based Second Amendment Foundation has now moved for a preliminary injunction against the State of Illinois to prevent the state from prohibiting citizens from carrying guns – something allowed in every other state.
Rahm Emanuel wants to avoid adverse court rulings on two pending federal lawsuits challenging Chicago’s ban on gun ranges. The City of Chicago is reluctantly taking steps to perpetuate its systematic hoplophobia by finally allowing gun ranges within its City limits. This seems like a move in the direction but the proposed zoning regulations would contain such severe restrictions that the legal expense alone will discourage most business people from even trying to construct a gun range!
Ranges in Chicago would be confined to areas zoned for manufacturing- but that’s only the beginning. Gun ranges would be prohibited within 1,000 feet of a school, park, place of worship, day care center, liquor store, library, museum, hospital or residential district!
That doesn’t leave too many viable locations. But the Mayor and Chicago’s aldermen are also busy trying to figure out how to make sure that, if any would-be range operators ever do obtain the required special use permits- after a prolonged and difficult public hearing process- no one could leave the range with ammunition purchased there. Did I mention that Illinois is now the only state where carrying of firearms by private citizens is completely prohibited!
Lawyers and historians are very familiar with all the unintended consequences that result from any policy choice. But there may come a time that the citizens of Chicago will look back to when violent crime was rampant in their city’s streets and wonder how they ever submitted to the tyranny of hoplophobic politicians like Rahm Emanuel. Parents all over the U.S. may even tell their children how toy guns could lead to dreadful retribution exacted by school officials under the control of a mental abnormality that once swept over our American ruling class.
Illinois also has a huge spending problem, four modern governors convicted of corruption and a river of blood in its streets. The Second Amendment was written by men that had read about similar times and they called hoplophobia something else- a recipe for tyranny!
The Law Office of Mark Knapp PLLC 