There’s a greyness over the city for the last two days. So much grief, so much compassion, .. It gets us all thinking on a host of related issues.

Montreal is known around the world for the worst of all reasons. In passing, I should recognize the sterling work done by some of the co-authors here in trying to give as much solid information as possible as early as possible. Chapeau à tous. They too were acknowledged around the world.

There are no easy answers. I heard a Ubisoft representative this morning on CBC say that the violence in video games was not a factor in causing individuals to be more violent than they would otherwise be. The CBC cited Japan where there is a much stronger following for such games and where this is not reflected in any greater violence in real life.

There is no obvious answer on the question of gun legislation and registration although both sides will undoubtedly try to advance their arguments for their position.

The question of individuals who are estranged from society is a much tougher question with even more challenges. Where do we find the resources to try to work on all the influences that cause such individuals to fall through the cracks of normal society?

The only thought that struck me was that perhaps these incidents are so rare that we should regard them as almost random events. We should look for the simplest ways of ensuring ‘harm reduction’ without necessarily being able to resolve the root causes. In this case we have a registered highly-lethal device in the hands of a private individual. Apparently it costs about $ 1,000 to own. When it’s used as it should not be, then the social costs are enormous.

If such ownership in private hands continues to be allowed then perhaps we should surround it with conditions that highly reduce the possibility of evil. If we care enough, I am sure there are technological solutions. Just brainstorming, perhaps such lethal devices could have active GPS location devices that signal their position. If such a weapon was moved say more than 30 metres, then this could be detected automatically and the authorities alerted. Owners wishing to transport their weapons would give prior notice to avoid creating alarms. Whatever the cost of such a system it would be only a fraction of the total cost to society of the tragedy that has just occurred.