IT would require mental gymnastics to find anything in common between the tragic mass shootings in Toronto and the United States this week beyond the obvious: that innocent people died and guns were involved. The shootings do, however, reveal a shared simple truth: that as much as we might wish otherwise, there is no magic formula to end gun violence….

Toronto’s mass shooting took place on Monday night at a large block party on an otherwise quiet suburban side street…. The killing of two young people and the injuring of more than 20 has been linked by police to gang violence … The echo of a shooting at the crowded Eaton Centre in early June that killed two and wounded five bystanders is impossible to ignore….

In the search for answers, perhaps the place to start is to round up what we know. We know that the US has a politicised gun culture that allows people to own high-calibre, rapid-firing automatic weapons, to bring holstered weapons to political rallies and, in many states, to shoot first and ask questions later….

We know that American guns routinely find their way into Canada and that the flow is increasing. We know … that their use is often related to the illicit drug trade. We know that there are inequities in our society that marginalise young men in black and immigrant communities and that carrying and using a pistol … gives them status among their peers.

Ergo, we know it would be easier to stem handgun violence if there were fewer handguns being manufactured and sold in the US, but we know that’s not going to happen. We know that we could try to stanch the flow of illegal guns at the border, but that wouldn’t stop gang members from wanting them. In short, any serious response to the issue of gun violence must avoid focusing on single issues aimed at a political or ideological base….

Still, that does not mean we must throw up our hands.— (July 20)