WASHINGTON -- Do you know that this country was once derided as being the most prudish of all the major countries on earth, even more prudish than the U.K.? For decades, we were laughed at for our prudish ways. Then something happened. We moved from being puritanical to being obsessed by sex and, by the way, obsessed by violence, too. We became obsessed with killing each other, or at least with shooting each other, particularly in schools, places of worship, hospitals and late-night parties, wherever you would least expect mayhem.