Silly Judges — Federal Judge Can’t Touch the Chicago Political Machine

By Rob Morse
Clash Daily Contributor

Judge Richard Posner thinks he can dictate the law to the Chicago Political Machine. Where has Posner been all these years? Doesn’t the judge know how things work and that you can’t fight City Hall?

Let me explain to the naïve judge what happens next. Chicago politics means you cheat if you ever lose in court. So what if a federal 7th Circuit Court judge named Richard Posner thought the Constitution applied to Illinois and that honest citizens were allowed to carry guns outside their home. Someday, you and I might get a permit to carry a firearm in Illinois. By the time the Chicago Machine is done passing laws, it will be illegal to go anywhere with a firearm.

Watch Chicago politics at work. The Chicago City Council passed an ordinance requiring all bars and restaurants that serve alcohol to be gun-free zones. There is no reason the City Council has to stop with bars and restaurants. They can apply the same restriction to every business that needs a city permit! Every taxi, every shoe repair shop and every beauty parlor needs city permission to stay in business.

Now we get to the best part for the Chicago Machine; their anti-gun requirements don’t have to be written into law or official regulations. The first rule of corruption is to never write it down. It will simply take a store owner three times as long to get his permit unless he puts up the no-guns signs the city wants. Eventually the store’s owner will wise up and play ball with the city inspectors. That is the Chicago way. That is how the Chicago Machine will eliminate guns in private businesses.

Of course the City can regulate municipal business, too. They can regulate legal gun owners who take public transportation or park their car in a municipal parking lot. In the name of public safety, the Chicago Machine will create “gun free zones” around schools, parks, day care centers and public transportation.

This is a problem for you even if you don’t go to bars in Chicago. Remember that the Chicago Machine owns the Illinois legislature, so they can eventually do to Illinois what they’ve done to Chicago. And they will, if they are given enough time. You might only want a firearm to protect your family, but the Chicago Machine doesn’t like that. The Machine wants to be the only gang with legal guns, so they will effectively ignore judge Posner’s orders. The judge allowed the state to regulate the time, the manner and the place where licensed citizens can carry arms. The Machine politicians in Springfield will do that with a vengeance.

Perhaps you think I’m being overly critical of Chicago and Illinois politicians. Remember that 13 Illinois politician and their cronies were recently charged, and 4 of the last 7 Illinois governors have been sent to prison for fraud.

I know you’re not like that and you obey the law. Say you live down state in Danville, Illinois, and all you want to do is go to your local grocery store to buy milk for your family. It is late at night, and crime is a problem given the cut backs at the sheriff’s office and the local police department. That is why you want to take your licensed firearm with you. You’ve taken the classes and received your carry license. You’ve even taken extra training, so you’re confident you can protect yourself and safely return to the ones who depend on you. You’ve done everything required by the law, so off you go to buy some milk.

Unfortunately your local grocery store needs a license from state health inspectors to operate. It won’t be long until the store has to put up a no-guns-allowed sign if the grocery store wants to receive a health inspection certificate. Does that sound familiar?

You obey the law, so you won’t go to that store when you’re carrying. Instead, you choose to go to the local gas station/convenience store. You fool, the gas station needs a state permit too! Almost every business needs a state permit; your church, your local car dealer and your doctor’s office. Let the Chicago Machine go to work, and in no time there will be a no-guns sign on the window of the local gun club.

Judge Posner allowed the state to regulate where citizens could legally carry a firearm. That gave the Chicago Machine all it needed so it can take everything it wants. They can write restrictive laws taking away our civil rights faster than a judge can object to them. Let this be a lesson for you, Judge Posner. You thought you were being moderate in your legal decision by allowing the state to have some latitude. Then the Chicago Machine regulated the human right of self-defense until it all but disappeared.

Maybe we should have some sympathy for the judge because judges don’t seem any smarter in New York or New Jersey.

Rob Morse is slightly intelligent with a serious sense of humor. He has been driven crazy as a design engineer is several bleeding-edge high-tech companies. He remains faithful and committed to marriage with his wife of 29 years. His two children have successfully escaped into the wild. He writes about technology and society from his home in southern California.