A Little Civic Action, A Little Lunch

This morning, I accompanied a small group on a visit to the Columbus offices of Sen. Rob Portman.  We were there to air our opinions on federal efforts to curb gun violence, and to inquire about the Senator's position on the topic, even though we already knew where he stood -- up to his ass in NRA money but trying to spin the illusion of impartiality.

You see, a couple in our little Gang of Six had been in D.C. last month for the Inauguration, and while there had stopped by Portman's office.  They asked for the Senator's views on gun control and were told he was studying the issue.  They asked the staffer to ask the Senator why anyone would need to possess an assault rifle.  The staffer said he'd pass it on.  Eventually, they received the Senator's reply. 

It was the exact same vague non-answer form letter that I had received in response to an email I'd sent to Portman.  Pretty disappointing.  And so it was decided that we should make an appointment to descend upon his Columbus office and ruffle a feather or two -- politely, of course.

As we got off the elevator, we couldn't help but notice a big sign with the universal red slash displayed on his office door:  "NO GUNS ALLOWED."  As the number two recipient of NRA cash in the Senate, Robbie shows a fine sense of irony.

We were greeted by Jason, a young assistant, and ushered into a very small, very hot waiting room.  Packed like sardines, for the next twenty minutes or so we made our points -- rather eloquently, I thought -- about background checks, assault weapons, and high capacity ammo clips.  Jason dutifully took notes and explained once again that the Senator was still gathering input and studying the issue.  What a studious guy!

"Can you tell us if the Senator is still opposed to a ban on assault rifles?"  "Is he in favor of universal background checks?"  "Is the Senator an actual member of the NRA?"  Jason didn't know about any of that, but he'd look into it and let us know.  Well, okey-dokey.

We were all well-mannered and nobody got pissy.  What I really wanted to ask was, "If we gave Rob twice as much money as the NRA does, would he listen to us and do what we say?"  But I refrained.

He gave us his card, I gave him a letter for Portman (maybe I'll post it later), we all shook hands and left.  I couldn't wait to get out of that little hotbox -- had to be at least 80 in there!  We speculated that the over-heated waiting room was a tactic to discourage . . . waiting.

I'd like to think our little chat with Jason will have some impact, make a bit of difference, but I have my doubts.  In any event, it certainly didn't hurt!  If more people do it more often, who knows?

We adjourned to lunch at a little spot on South High called the "Explorer's Club".  Not my usual neck of the woods, but they had very good food.  My crabcake sandwich was delicious  -- a nice little reward for a little bit of civic action.