There are some new items which transcend international borders; and the shooting of three children and a teacher in France is just one such story.

As French President Nicolas Sarkozy put it: “Today is a day of national tragedy – because children have been murdered in cold blood, because a killer entered a school, a school of the Jewish faith. This tragedy devastates the entire national community.”

While this killing was not on the same scale as that which took place in Norway, the killing of such young children, from an ethnic minority, makes this crime more terrible. France has deployed its military in Toulouse to ward off any further attacks that the killer might have had in mind.

Jewish schools, Muslim schools and places of worship in Toulouse and the region will be very closely monitored. France has launched a manhunt to find the killer, but the crime has shocked one and all.

All too often, we hear of people going on rampages in China – specifically targeting schools. It has also happened in the West, the UK and the US, in particular. France has had its share of ethnic unrest, but on the whole, the country does enjoy a sense of harmony between races and religions, with the Republic always coming first.

An attack such as this must be taken as a warning sign and remind us all that people can snap and launch into barbaric acts of cruelty, anywhere in the world. One can never know exactly what goes on in the mind of a killer. We may hope to try and understand people who have acted on impulse and killed others in crimes of passion, but sane people simply cannot comprehend the reasoning of a crazed mind.

Sarkozy has labelled this a terror attack that goes beyond the Jewish community – and he is right. Crimes such as these do not only affect a community, but a nation, a continent and the world. The values of tolerance and diversity are a cornerstone of modern European society, but when such incidents happen, they shake us to the very core. What France must now do is establish whether this is the work of a madman or a racist and bring that person to justice. Sadly, there is nothing one can do to prevent, or at least discourage such attacks.

Following an attack in a courtroom in Germany, some years back, many European nations – Malta included – installed security barriers, metal detectors and X-Ray machines in court houses.

But do we really want to create a situation where kids have to go through security barriers in schools? This is the norm in much of the US, and perhaps, more than anything, it gives peace of mind to parents. But realistically, what can anyone do to prevent a crazed killer from carrying out his or her plan? Not much. These things have happened before and they will happen again. The questions we will be left asking ourselves again are; where, when and why?