'WE ARE LEFT NUMB'.

This article focuses on the murder of four police officers in Alberta, Canada. Just think how many people would be better off had James Roszko not been born 46 years ago in the central Alberta town of Mayerthorpe. Chief among them are the four young RCMP constables the hate-filled Roszko shot and killed at his farm on March 3, before turning his high-powered, rapid-fire rifle on himself. Last week, family and friends laid the four slain officers to rest in their home communities, and thousands of others gathered in Edmonton for an emotional national memorial service -- the largest such ceremony in RCMP history. Beyond the pain Roszko inflicted on individuals, one of the most remarkable things about his final crime -- on its surface, the random act of a deranged killer -- is how it managed to strike at the heart of so many hot-button issues in Canadian public life. We now know the RCMP had been summoned to Roszko's farm on March 2 to assist with the repossession of a 2005 Ford pickup Roszko had leased from an Edmonton company. It was only then officers discovered stolen auto parts and 20 mature pot plants and initiated their fateful overnight stakeout.To the degree marijuana played a role in the RCMP's decision to guard Roszko's farm, it arguably bolsters the case for legalizing (as opposed to "decriminalizing") this relatively soft drug and then regulating and taxing it, much as alcohol is now. A more pertinent issue is what the tragedy says about Ottawa's controversial national gun registry. Trying to make sense of Roszko's destructive life, and especially his last horrific deed, raises questions that range far beyond the law and public policy. It goes to what theologians call "the problem of evil." How can an all-powerful, all-loving God allow such a thing to happen?