I receive a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize around noon today.
I usually don’t answer unknowns, as they tend to end with me struggling to explain to Spanish-speaking Texans that they’ve dialed the wrong number.
This was my conversation, to the best of my memory:

Me: Hello?

Caller: Um, yes. Is this Laurie Par-a-vati?

Me: Speaking.

Caller: Yes, hi. This is Officer (inaudible) from the Fort Lee Police Dept.

Me: Oh, hi. (I immediately try to remember if I missed paying a parking ticket or something)

Officer: Yes, you submitted a reference letter for an Antonio Musumeci. Did I pronounce that correctly?

Me: Close enough, and yes I did.

Officer: For a fire arm permit.

Me: On, yes! (possibly a little too eager)

Officer: (long pause) I’m not sure if you completely understood what you were supposed to write on the reference form.

Me: What do you mean?

Officer: Well, (sympathetic pause) in the section where you’re supposed to explain why you think Antonio should get a fire arm, you wrote ‘because he wants one’ and ‘it’s his 2nd Amendment Right’.

Me: Yeah. Is there someth–

Officer: I always say these papers aren’t clear enough.

Me: …

Officer: Well, (pause) we aren’t really concerned with your opinion on gun control. I mean, if you look at the news, just giving someone a gun because they want one really hasn’t worked out well.

Me: (I opt to bite my tongue instead of getting into a blog of bile discussion) Oh, yea, I watch the news. I mean…

Officer: What this is suppose to serve is (pause), a moment to sort of vouch for Mr. Antonio. Tell us briefly why you think he should get a firearm. I figured you probably didn’t understand the intention of that section.

Me: I see. Because I figured, since Fort Lee already issued him a firearm.

Officer: (pause) Yes, well, you know. If you look at the news, just giving someone a gun because they want one really doesn’t work out well. If you watch the news (nervous laugh) you’ll see this.

Me: Oh, okay. Right.

Officer: Well, if you are serious about being his point of contact…

Me: Can you send me another one then?

Officer: We’ll send you another form, and just briefly explain if you think he is capable of owning a firearm.

Me: No problem. Thank you.

Officer: Have a nice day.

I want to throw this out there: the officer was not being a jerk. He stuttered, was really trying to be polite, and almost sounded like he was expecting me to get confrontational with him.

So am I surprised that my comments got me a phone call? Yes and no. I knew what they wanted to read was most definitely not what I wrote, that’s for damn sure. But the fact that they actually took the bait, wasted the time to call me, have this conversation, and to resend the reference letter annoys me a bit. Sure, now I have blog of bile subject matter to post about, but at the expense of bile’s firearm license waiting period. I guess the new game is seeing how long it will take them to mail out the blank form again.

Moral of the story? The 2nd Amendment is not a good enough reason for wanting a firearm.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/…

Mr. Warner, 80, who hails from a Virginia farm, told a story about traveling to Bayonne, N.J., in 1945 to board a ship bound for Japan, only to be turned around when news came that the war ended. He spoke into a wall of more than 20 signs for Mr. Paul, held aloft by the Texas congressman’s dozens of vociferous supporters.

“New Jersey is the industrial heart of America, and you served us in that time of crisis like no other,” he said.

In a straw vote taken on two electronic voting machines after the forum Mr. Paul won handily, capturing 52 of 120 votes cast. Mr. McCain got 40 votes, Mitt Romney scored 27 and Mike Huckabee got a single vote, claimed by Wojciech Siemaszkiewicz, a librarian and Republican activist who gave a stump speech for Mr. Huckabee.

“I like Mike!” he bellowed when Mr. Huckabee’s single vote was announced.

The dress of the more than 150 people at the event ranged from a long-haired man in a tie-dye shirt and flip-flops wearing a Ron Paul sticker, to 10 men in suits and ties, five sporting McCain stickers and five sporting Romney stickers. An infant wore a bib that read, “Mac is Back!”

Many in attendance were impressed by Mr. Warner’s appearance. Gary Berner, 55, the municipal chair of Lyndhurst, said that the senator’s appearance “enlivened the party in the county.”

Mr. Berner, who supported Rudolph W. Giuliani until the former mayor dropped out of the race, said he was persuaded by Mr. Giuiliani’s endorsement of Mr. McCain.

Antonio Musumeci, 27, a Fort Lee resident with a Ron Paul sticker affixed to his black T-shirt with a yellow skull that read, “Don’t Tread On Me,” said that he believes the McCain campaign sent Mr. Warner to New Jersey because, “he was probably free and able to do it and they don’t have anyone in the area well known enough.”

It was still Mr. Paul and his supporters who some viewed as the biggest pariahs, despite Mr. Warner’s praise of everyone in the room who took part in the straw poll, which he called a “grassroots effort that lays the foundation block for America’s political system.”

Clara Nibot, 62, who supports Mr. Romney, said she felt Mr. Paul’s supporters poisoned that grass.

“This is a sabotage of the straw poll,” she huffed after the forum, “Because of Ron Paul’s organized, grassroots effort.”

I did effectively say that… but what else are you going to say when someone asks: “Why do you think the McCain camp sent up a southern Senator?” I mean really… plenty of NJ pols have endorsed McCain I’m sure so why Warner? I doubt the fact he was shipped out of Bayonne had anything to do with it… that’s fairly obscure.

That last quote is great though. As I said… many of the people there weren’t happy that we were so organized. Sure Paul won’t win NJ… I know that… but it’s good to get out there and show them we mean business and we won’t be going away quietly. We may be polling 4th of 4 at 5%-8% but that’s enough to get things done. Especially at the local level.