Death or Cheese? Cheese or Death?

So, today, yet another story of a school shooting (near Portland, Oregon this time) is splashed across the news paper. The firearm was a rifle of unspecified type. The shooter killed a student, injured another person, and died at the scene either of self inflicted wounds or in a shoot out. As if that is not bad enough, as they were patting down the evacuated students from the school, they found and confiscated a concealed handgun.

Yet, in other news, the FDA is considering banning aged cheeses because they feel that the wooden cheese racks, racks that have been used by cheese makers for generations, could not be sufficiently decontaminated and therefore pose a threat to food safety.

The NRA has managed, with political donations, threats, fear-mongering, and propaganda, to fend off any serious gun regulation legislation even in the face of almost monthly reports of random violent gun crimes at institutions long thought to be a refuge. Their solution to prevention? Arm everyone, that way everyone can defend themselves. Much good that did the conceal carrying gentleman in Las Vegas who thought that he, alone, can stop the two anti-government extremists who invaded the Walmart after ambushing and - for the lack of better words - executing two Las Vegas police officers on a lunch break. Yes, the conceal carrying gentleman, confident and brave with his second amend rights, simply added to the body count before the pair finished their rampage themselves in a murder suicide pact.

Mr. conceal carry will be touted as a hero, no doubt (and he is brave... but take care, brave is a dangerous word and does not always mean what you think). The gun rights right will argue that "hey! at least he had an option to do something", and completely ignore the fact that the person who stopped the Seattle shooter was an unarmed bystander and that, perhaps, luck of the draw dictates much more than one'd like to give luck credit for.

Yet we are still facing a potential aged cheese ban. Oh, if only there was a National Aged Cheese Association... NACA...