Prior "common sense" proposals are perpetually abandoned. The so-called "news" media adopts each new absurd gun-control scheme dutifully, promotes it uncritically, then drops it like a hot potato when it is proven worthless and runs to the next latest greatest bit of hoplophobic (morbid gun fear) ridiculousness.

In effect the nation endures a serial mythology, with new myths invented constantly, so we lose sight of each established myth as new ones spring into the public eye.

This obscures the former paranoid fabrications, frustrating our efforts "to get to the heart of the problem," which then never get adequately described. You'll recognize them instantly, from the constant hammering of the not-too-distant past—try some of these on for sighs (sic)—