Heres how tragically absurd mass shootings have gotten in our country: This piece was written and ready to be published on Monday when we got news that a man entered a Louisville, Kentucky, bank from which he had reportedly been recently terminated and opened fire, killing five people and injuring others .

The shooter livestreamed the attack; he apparently died while exchanging gunfire with police.

As of press time, injuries and other details are still being sorted out, but we know the gunmans weapon of choice: an AR-15 assault rifle that he legally purchased only a week earlier.

Its the same type of gun another shooter used to kill six people , including three 9-year-olds, on March 27 at The Covenant School, a private Christian grade school in Nashville. It was yet another day we had to endure news stories featuring the faces of innocent children who were cut down .

The Nashville shooter who was also killed by police reportedly took the rifle to the school in a bag along with two other guns and ammunition . Nashville police say that the shooter legally purchased several guns from five different stores despite being under care for an emotional disorder.

An AR-15 was reportedly used in 10 of the last 17 deadly mass shootings in the country, including the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in 2012 that claimed the lives of 20 children, all under eight years old. And it isnt just school shootings the AR-15 or some variant of it has been used in more mass shootings than anyone not paid to keep track of it can reasonably be expected to.

President Bill Clinton signed into law a Federal Assault Weapons Ban in 1994; the ban expired 10 years later. Despite research concluding that mass-shooting-related homicides were reduced during that decade, attempts to renew the ban have not been successful.

Even President Donald Trump questioned the necessity of private AR-15 ownership albeit not publicly enough. Yet, in many red states, its still easier to buy an assault rifle than a bottle of high-proof liquor.

In the wake of the Nashville shooting, President Joe Biden renewed calls for an assault weapons ban. Anyone whos been conscious and living in America knows his pleas will go nowhere, especially with a divided Congress. Sure, youll get thoughts and prayers up the wazoo, but well quietly move on and wait until the next tragedy to resume the fatuous cycle.

Its the movie Groundhog Day manifest in political agendas.