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Finland tightens gun law after school shootings
Source: Agencies |
June 13, 2011, Monday
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FINLAND toughened its gun laws today, increasing the age limit for handgun licenses and tightening gun ownership rules after young gunmen killed nearly 20 people in shooting sprees over the past four years. The killings prompted public pressure for increased gun control in this country of avid hunters, which has one of the highest gun ownership rates in the world.
Under the new measures, applicants for a handgun license must be at least 20 years old and prove active involvement in shooting as a sport or for hunting.
License holders must also prove every five years that they remain actively involved in shooting as a hobby. Some applicants aged 15-18 could be granted a special permit for rifles and shotguns if a guardian is licensed.
"This will significantly restrict the availability of handgun licenses compared to the current situation," said Mika Lehtonen, project manager at the ministry of the interior's police department.
Calls for reform emerged after 18-year-old student Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed eight people at Jokela High School near Helsinki in November 2007, before turning his weapon on himself.
The following September, Matti Saari, 22, killed 10 people at a vocational school in a small western Finnish town of Kauhajoki before shooting himself.
Both gunmen had a handgun licence.
Demand for change was given further impetus in December 2009 when a man shot four people dead in a shopping mall in Espoo, after knifing his ex-girlfriend to death. The man, Ibrahim Shkupolli later killed himself. He had used an illegally owned gun in his mall attack.
Critics, however, said raising the age limit would make it difficult for young people to learn how to shoot in a country where hunting for moose, hares and birds is a popular pastime.
Hunting lobbyists questioned whether the new restrictions would curb violence.
"How one can prove that one has been active in a hobby for two years, if one cannot own the equipment," asked Teemu Simelius, organisation chief at the Finnish hunters' association.
"Guns themselves do not commit crimes, it is the gun users who do. It would be more important to invest in health care than to tighten gun laws."
With 1.6 million guns in circulation in 2009 in a population of 5.3 million, ranking it fourth after the United States, Yemen and Switzerland, according to a survey by Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.
Under the new measures, applicants for a handgun license must be at least 20 years old and prove active involvement in shooting as a sport or for hunting.
License holders must also prove every five years that they remain actively involved in shooting as a hobby. Some applicants aged 15-18 could be granted a special permit for rifles and shotguns if a guardian is licensed.
"This will significantly restrict the availability of handgun licenses compared to the current situation," said Mika Lehtonen, project manager at the ministry of the interior's police department.
Calls for reform emerged after 18-year-old student Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed eight people at Jokela High School near Helsinki in November 2007, before turning his weapon on himself.
The following September, Matti Saari, 22, killed 10 people at a vocational school in a small western Finnish town of Kauhajoki before shooting himself.
Both gunmen had a handgun licence.
Demand for change was given further impetus in December 2009 when a man shot four people dead in a shopping mall in Espoo, after knifing his ex-girlfriend to death. The man, Ibrahim Shkupolli later killed himself. He had used an illegally owned gun in his mall attack.
Critics, however, said raising the age limit would make it difficult for young people to learn how to shoot in a country where hunting for moose, hares and birds is a popular pastime.
Hunting lobbyists questioned whether the new restrictions would curb violence.
"How one can prove that one has been active in a hobby for two years, if one cannot own the equipment," asked Teemu Simelius, organisation chief at the Finnish hunters' association.
"Guns themselves do not commit crimes, it is the gun users who do. It would be more important to invest in health care than to tighten gun laws."
With 1.6 million guns in circulation in 2009 in a population of 5.3 million, ranking it fourth after the United States, Yemen and Switzerland, according to a survey by Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.
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