A few thoughts.

On Valentine's Day, a former student armed with guns murdered 17 people in a high school in Parkland, Florida. From March 2 through the 21st, a man sent home-made explosive devices to homes around the Austin area, killing two people and injuring five. Two days ago in Toronto, a man in a rental van ploughed along about a mile of pedestrian path, killing at least nine and injuring many more. What is the common thread running through all these stories, and how do they differ? Each one of these events was caused by a person who deliberately set out to kill as many people as possible. How they differ is the fact that many blame guns for the actions of the individual in Florida, but no one is protesting the manufacture and sale of the components of the home-grown explosive devices, and no one is screaming for more intensive screening processes for the rental of vans, either here or in Canada. The attacks in Austin and Toronto are a reminder that murder is caused by humans, and the method of delivery is really only a matter of semantics. So why are we bent about one method and not that bothered about the others, as a society? It is time that people focus on the real problem-- the human problem-- rather than the instrument of choice.