So if someone has a heart attack while driving and their car plows into a busy shopping street. Then whether or not they are regarded as a terrorist depends on whether or not someone tries to ban old people from driving because of it?

Or to ask a different question, how would you define terrorism? Because the Oxford English dictionary definition is:

“The calculated use of violence or threat of violence to inculcate fear. Terrorism is intended to coerce or intimidate governments or societies in the pursuit of goals that are generally political, religious, or ideological.”

That last bit sort of discounts the majority of gun violence generally. And yes in terms of the result, it is splitting hairs. But, knowing the motivation behind a crime is important. You’re going to have more success preventing school shootings by investing in mental health services than you will in anti terrorism policing.

Also if two separate people wake up one morning and person A decides to kill the first person he sees. Person Bdecides to kill the first black person he sees. They both end up killing a black man, and both end up in prison. During rehabilitation, if you treat both as a hate crime, then you’re not properly addressing the violent impulses with person A and if you only address the violent behaviour then you aren’t addressing the underlying racism in person B. Motivation matters in how things are handled generally.