You may not realize just yet, but you just got sold down the river - on a rail.

Earlier this week, the Florida Legislature, otherwise known as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Tallahassee lobbyist corps of buffet tables, agreed to provide the choo-choo company, CSX Transportation freedom from being held responsible for any passenger train accidents, which might occur on its rail lines - even if CSX is at fault for the mishap.

And just whom would be left holding the bill for damages? Why that would be you, dear taxpayer, of course.

The CSX gift basket is part of a larger $491 million cooked up in secret deal in which the state will purchase 61 miles of rail tracks in Orlando, thus freeing up the company to expand its freight hub in Polk County.

So, let’s see here. CSX gets the secret $491 million. And if anything goes wrong, even if it’s the result of the company’s own misconduct, they are still free and clear from any liability. Sweet deal.

Which brings us to another issue the legislative lotion boys pondered this week.

For years now those crazy, wacky, fun-loving folks at the National Rifle Association have been pushing for a law, which would permit employees to bring their guns to work, as long as they remained locked up in their cars.

The move has long been opposed by another powerful lobby, Associated Industries of Florida, which has argued private business owners ought to have the right to dictate what can and can’t be brought onto private property. It’s a perfectly reasonable point of view.

And thus those profiles in courage in Tallahassee have found themselves caught between two very influential special interest groups, both quite capable of extracting tons of political flesh should they get annoyed.

So this week, state Sen. Michael Bennett introduced and won approval of a provision, which would protect private business owners from legal liability should an employee go a little wacko-mondo and start shooting people at work.

You know, when you have to anticipate bloody mayhem as a consequence of legislation you are about to pass, that alone might suggest perhaps this proposed law might be just a tad - insane.

Nevertheless since the bring your lethal weapon to work bill seems to be gaining momentum among the NRA lemmings in the Florida Legislature, one aspect of Bennett’s liability amendment has been overlooked.

If companies will be held harmless in the event a worker decides to start shooting, who should be eventually responsible for paying damages for allowing all this bloodshed to occur?

Since the taxpayers are already obligated to bail out CSX, perhaps Bennett might want to introduce language that would obligate the National Rifle Association and all the individual members of the Florida Legislature who voted for this hooey to be the ones to pay damages to the victims of workplace violence as a consequence of the Body Bag Act of 2008.

That would only be the fair thing to do, although admittedly the common sense train left the station in Tallahassee a long time ago.