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So, instead, they'd rather talk about something else. And as of right now, that something else is MEDIA VIOLENCE.

Some of my younger readers may not remember media violence. But, in all fairness, it's been a while since that grand old dame was trotted out in front of the cameras for a good excoriation.

Luckily for us, she hasn't really been doing anything since 9/11 taught a nation no longer in a Cold War that there were more dangerous things out there than our own cultural excesses. Like, say, terrorists, WMDs, and countries who aid and abet the creation of said terrorists and WMDs.

(And our own, screwed-up foreign policy, which inadvertently aids and abets them all, in turn.)

So, now that the gun angle has been played enough times that it looks like someone might actually want to look at banning certain kinds of guns, again, or maybe take away all handguns, period, the great bait and switch has begun. And here comes old Miss Media Violence, out to remind us that video games are still bloody, Marilyn Manson is still disturbing, and movies still teach us that the best way to solve a problem is to point a gun at it.

Of course, that's entertainment; no one ever said you should take it seriously, and no one really should. Quite frankly, if parents can't teach their children the difference between fantasy and reality, then the question is not whether fantasy has gone too far, but why Child Protective Services has not yet been called.

However, over at FOX News, CPS is having a field day.

They trotted out "West Point Psychologist" Dave Grossman to opine on the matter, who was so looney-sounding that Crooks and Liars wondered if maybe he needed some psychiatric care, himself. (One also wonders if he was mostly there to pimp his book, website, and professional services.)

They also trotted out Miss Media Violence's favorite suitor, soon-to-be-former Senator Joseph Lieberman, who blamed the "cause and effect" of violent video games for the assault. This is standard procedure for Lieberman, who never found a scapegoat he couldn't use when tragedies like this occur. 

Now, if the bait and switch was being confined to the avalanche in waiting that is Bullsh!t Mountain, that might not be so bad. Unfortunately, it would seem that the blame game is trickling down to other, more sane areas, like CNN.

At least "Morning Joe" Scarborough was decent enough to reverse his previous positions on gun control, during a lengthy monologue on the subject. But he seemingly couldn't help but devote equal time to the notion that Hollywood needs to be blamed as well.

"Entertainment moguls don't have an absolute right to glorify murder while spreading mayhem in young minds across America," he said. "It is time for Congress to put children before deadly dogmas."

I can't disagree with that, of course, but if we would choose life and change, as Scarborough exhorted us to, perhaps it would be good to focus on what really needs to change, rather than pull out the usual false culprits as a way to avoid angering the powerful allies of the real danger.

Pro tip: it ain't Halo 4.

On the surface, this maneuver seems like a sensible way to handle the problem. Most sensible Americans would no sooner knowingly give up their right to First Amendment freedoms than they would willingly shove lit firecrackers up their private parts, but they aren't above occasionally excoriating the more outre aspects of popular culture when "it's gone too far." Talking heads talk bans, someone asks 'what about free speech?', and before you know it there's one more barrier to keep kids from getting their hands on certain things, but those certain things are still made.

In fact, one can argue that those barriers have only made things worse. Before warning stickers were on albums, only rarely were truly profane and violent things put out onto the market. After the Tipper Sticker, however, the understanding that you could get away with nearly anything so long as you had the Parental Advisory label led to a state where people did just that.

The same argument could be made for movies, television, and video games. With MPAA and ERSB ratings, and parental locks, those who want to go beyond the pale have free reign to do it. After all, the parents HAVE BEEN WARNED; if they choose to not heed those warnings, or assume that, just because they give Tommy $20 to go buy something, he will buy something wholesome and good with that money, then whose fault is that?

But discussing, creating, and implementing a new barrier keeps us talking about the First Amendment, and not the Second. And that's what the bait and switch is all about.

Most Americans love the fact that you can say what you mean, but not nearly as many Americans love that you can back what you mean up with guns. If we scrapped the Constitution, today, and began to craft a new Bill of Rights, there's a good chance that the Second Amendment would not make the final cut in its entirety.

And if it did, it would probably have as many hows, therebys, and whyfores as your average piece of legislation, which would mean that we'd all probably be quite limited in our choice of gunpowder weaponry.

Needless to say, this state of affairs would be most displeasing to the people who do like their guns plentiful, powerful, and ready to dispense at the whiff of a black helicopter coming around the mountain. And these people have very powerful friends, who in turn have very loud friends, who can steer the national conversation this way and that as it fits their needs.

So no, let's not talk about Adam Lanza's mental state, or what medicines he may or may not have been taking.

Let's not talk about his mother's interesting views on national security and the potential collapse of social order.

Let's not talk about the fact that the gun he stole from his mother was illegal for years, but could be bought again after a certain weapons ban was allowed to lapse in 2004.

Let's not talk about whether we know for a fact that he was into violent video games or entertainment at all.

Let's not talk about any of that, because it's not really important. Let's talk, instead, about changing our media culture, because it's sick and nasty and icky and weird, and the only people who really like it are easily marginalized and ignored.

And, most importantly, because there just is no equivalent to the National Rifle Association anywhere to be found in the entertainment industry. 

Hopefully this bait and switch will be seen for what it is, and clearer arguments will finally prevail. But America has never had a shortage of well-paid flim-flam artists, willing to sell us panaceas for diseases we don't have, the better to keep us from asking why we got cancer from working in the mine.

Whether we suck down useless cough syrup until the next shooting, for go in for some long-overdue chemo, is up to us. Sadly, I fear that the makers of all-purpose icky-tasting medicine will be driving new Camaros, any day now.