Finland Set to Tighten Gun Laws

STORY:
Gun ownership is a way of life in Finland.

One in three of the Nordic country's more than five million population has a firearm.

Gun crime is low, but in 2007 a Finnish teenager shot eight people dead at a school.

Then last year another young man did the same, killing ten. Both used handguns.

Now the Finnish government wants to make that type of weapon much less available.

[Antti Pelttari, Interior Ministry State Secretary]:
"Six ministries have come up with a list of 115 different measures, ranging from legislation to aid in mental health and also improving security in the schools and also measures monitoring the web."

The move would restrict who can get a handgun, and make a permit to have one much more difficult to obtain.

Mika Kaasalainen runs this firearms store and says the problem is with Finnish society.

[Mika Kaasalainen, Gun Store Owner]:
"The roots of the school shootings are to be found in young ages — something somewhere went wrong. In one of the tragic school shooting incidents, the perpetrator planned his act for six years and nobody noticed anything during this time, so in my opinion the problems are elsewhere not with the guns."

School shootings remain in the headlines after a German teenager shot dead 15 people on March 11.

If passed by Finland's parliament, the handgun control measure could become law by June.

Category:

Education

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[VonHelton]

Adolph Hitler, Mussolini, Josef Stalin all agree. Gun control works!

[lunaris19]

Putting stricter controls on guns won't work, as gun sales will become more available in the black market.

When a law is created to control the wants of societies, be it guns, alcohol, marijuana or otherwise, the people will always find a way to bypass those laws via the black market.

[22912129113]

@VonHelton USA proved that without it you're literally fucked.

[Dancingbirdfly]

Same strategy used by anti-gun lobbyists in the states. Milking the fear from a school shooting to push an agenda. Finland remember you are wedged between two empires but don't forget who you are.

[cripto136]

@lunaris19 yeah, but at least you gotta work for it, and you take chances. Real criminals will not have problems, but the problem is not the real criminals, it is the petty thief and wana-be gansta vs the cops the good withe Citizen "who only defend himself" Maybe the life of the teen he just shot was not worth the money he had on him? Maybe the gun that this kid had wasen't even loaded!

[cripto136]

@VonHelton And bush agree: You can do fuck up shit even whe ppl have guns.

[YOWHATTHEHELLUP71]

@McHack35 what a wonderful idea!

[McHack35]

Let people have their guns - just charge $100,000 for every bit of ammunition

[derb00t]

awesome

[sevendarkdays]

Finland actually have the highest homocide rate in western europe, which for a nordic country, is kinda sucky.