FINLAND: Finland to tighten gunlaws after school shootings

Record ID: 376622

  • Title: FINLAND: Finland to tighten gunlaws after school shootings
  • Date: 14th March 2009
  • Summary: HELSINKI, FINLAND (MARCH 12, 2009) (REUTERS) THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT (IN THE SNOW) (4 SECONDS) STATUE OF FORMER FINNISH PRESIDENT PEHR EVIND SVINHUFVUD IN FRONT OF PARLIAMENT MINISTRY OF INTERIOR SIGN SAYING MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR INTERIOR MINISTRY STATE SECRETARY ANTTI PELTTARI ONE OF THE STUDIES OF THE NEW FIREARM ACT (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERIOR MINISTRY STATE
  • Embargoed: 29th March 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Finland
  • Country: Finland
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA4232U2OWIN5ELVSZKI7POMXGW
  • Story Text: Finland to make it tougher to get hold of guns following two school shootings in two years in which eighteen people died.
    Finland is set to tighten what is generally seen as its liberal gun laws following two separate school shootings in the past two years.
    The government announced on Wednesday (March 12) the first round of proposals for tougher legislation was almost complete.
    Coincidentally, the news came on the same day world headlines were made in Germany when a young man ran amok at a school, killing 15 people in all, before turning the gun on himself.
    Gun ownership in Finland, which has a population of around 5.3 million, is among the highest in the world - a ratio of nearly one weapon to every three people - but crime rates are low.
    In September 2008, 22-year-old Matti Saari killed nine fellow students and one male staff member at a travel and hospitality industry college, a day after being interviewed by police about online videos of himself at a gun range.
    Police said Saari had been in touch with Pekka-Eric Auvinen, an 18-year-old who killed eight people in November 2007 in Jokela, southern Finland, after broadcasting his intent in a YouTube video clip.
    The government now proposes many changes to the Firearms Act.
    Interior Ministry State Secretary Antti Pelttari said six ministries had come up with a list of 115 different measures, ranging from legislation to aid in mental health, improved security in schools and also monitoring the web.
    The main one is that significant restrictions be imposed on the availability of handguns - pistols, small-calibre pistols, revolvers and small-calibre revolvers.
    Both Saari and Auvinen were able to get hold of the weapons fairly easily from the same shop.
    Under new laws, only those aged 20 or over, who have practised shooting as members of a shooting club actively for at least two years, could be granted a handgun permit. They would also need a certificate issued by a certified firearms trainer. And a first possession permit for a handgun would only be for a fixed term up to five years.
    Pelttari expressed his sadness at the school killings in Winnenden in Germany, but said that wouldn't influence thinking in Finland where the process for tougher legislation was now in its latter stages.
    Following the shootings in Finland there was much discussion about the role of the Internet and the two men's social background and mental health.
    As a consequence, the government proposes suitability testing should be added to the Firearms Act.
    It is also proposed that police should have more scope for obtaining information on the state of health, intoxicant abuse and violent behaviour of the applicant for a firearm licence. And that doctors and other healthcare professionals be given a right under law to notify the police of a person who may be considered unsuitable for possessing a firearm.
    The manager of the gun shop Ajanase in Helsinki believes the access to guns is not the real problem.
    Mika Kaasalainen pointed out that in one of the Finnish shootings the perpetrator planned his act for six years and nobody noticed anything during that time.
    "The problems are elsewhere, not with the guns," he said, adding that he'd read even the police were not convinced a new firearms law would solve the problem without tackling the mental and other problems facing young people.
    The government hopes a proposal will be put before parliament in June.
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