An Epic

Long ago, in a faraway land, men had progressed to a point where multi-arrow bows were accepted. After a few occasions where mass-arrow killings occurred, the king's peasants set up a campaign to rid the kingdom of the evil machines.

Town cryers (journalists of the day) went about yelling and screaming over the evil contraptions.  Focus groups would appear at the gates of the castle to demand the king rid the kingdom of such evil.

The king came out at some point, and spoke of how he would use his executive powers....to do the good of the kingdom.

But Lords and Dukes from across the kingdom....asked of the wisdom of this.  If evil men came in the middle of the night....would people have the protection necessary to save their families?  Town cryers yelled that this was all bogus-talk.

Eventually, towns in the kingdom sat about to tax arrows at a much higher rate than normal.  Other towns told the arrow makers to up and move.....to their village, where taxes would not be dumped upon them.

The king talked of registering all bows in the kingdom, and making a ID check mandatory for any bow purchase.

Peasants eventually tired of the talk, and of the town cryers.  Eventually, all settled down, and people got back to growing crops, milking cows, cutting hay, and drinking whiskey.  All was well....eventually.