Confronting the “Hoplophobe”

by Dr. Bill Rogers
WRogers@KeepAndBearArms.com

Jeff Cooper coined the term "Hoplophobe" to describe a person who lives in fear of an inanimate object. The Hoplophobe does not recognize that there is a living, breathing human being in possession of the inanimate object. (See: Bad Gun - Liberals attack the gun issue.) Therefore the Hoplophobe chooses to have a relationship with an inanimate object rather than with the sentient being in control of the object. Such a person is, by definition, irrational. Such a person is, by association, insane. 

In our merciful culture, the insane are granted special dispensations. They are not considered responsible for their own well-being. Public money is often used to house, clothe and feed them. They are not allowed to serve on a jury. They are not allowed to vote. (And when they do manage to sneak into the voting booth, the rational among us are not surprised that they often "dimple" rather than "punch" a ballot, despite written instructions to the contrary.) They are not allowed to serve in the military, and they certainly should not be allowed to make public policy that will put their neighbors at risk of being injured or killed. 

We in the RKBA community have spent countless hours and dollars attempting to educate the Hoplophobes. This is hopeless. It cannot be done. These poor folks have a condition known to the medical specialty of neurology as "anosognosia." That is: they don't know, and they don't know that they don't know. A sure sign of such a deplorable condition is that when education is attempted, the Hoplophobe responds with anger. 

So, I recommend that we finally give up on educating these unfortunates. Let us instead shift our efforts to controlling them and disenfranchising them. They must be treated like the mentally retarded who are allowed to make only limited decisions in the world of "grownups."

Hoplophobes don't like to be angry, because it frightens them to be angry. So, our attack on them should be one of frontal assault.
Let us boldly call them what they are: socially retarded children who, when left alone to participate in the making of public policy, are getting people killed. It is time for us to start taking them on directly. We have simply been "too nice" to these social retards. The worst that will happen when these people are confronted directly is that they will cry and run away, trembling and calling us names as they run. 

Politically correct witnesses to our frontal assault will doubtlessly call us ugly names and tell us we are being "cruel." And that, my friends, is the exact moment when we win the debate, because that is when we turn and point to a homicidal shooter, like the one recently captured in Massachusetts, and we say: 

"No, DAMN YOU, HE is the cruel one! HE is the one who shot the sheep, some of them in the back as they frantically scrambled for their lives because they had nothing with which to fight back! HE is the one that no one shot down while he was fumbling to change magazines or reload his shotgun!" 

Yes. It is time we came out of our own little closets and began telling our fellow citizens: 

"Any man (or woman) among you who is physically able and yet who does not learn to shoot and carry a defensive weapon at ALL times, is a deadbeat who deserves...DESERVES...whatever comes your way."

Dr. Rogers is a psychiatrist practicing in Tyler, TX. He is a member of the KABA Board of Directors and he is the Director of Doctors For Sensible Gun Laws: http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com/DSGL. Other writings from Dr. Rogers can be found in his archive here: http://www.KeepAndBearArms.com/Rogers.