Solemnly leading his country in a day of mourning, Finland’s prime minister called for tighter gun laws yesterday as he visited the site of a fiery school massacre that left 10 victims dead.
A 22-year-old student armed with a .22 caliber handgun and petrol bombs opened fire on classmates at a vocational college here Tuesday, killing 10 others and burning their bodies before turning the gun on himself. It was Finland’s second deadly school shooting in less than a year.
Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said it was time to consider restricting access to guns in a country with deeply held hunting traditions and over 1.6 million firearms in private hands. Finland ranks in the top five nations in the world when it comes to civilian gun ownership.
“After this kind of behavior, my personal opinion is that we need to study if people should get access to handguns so freely,” Vanhanen told reporters in Kauhajoki, 290km northwest of Helsinki. “I’m very, very critical about the guns and during the next few months we will make a decision about it.”
The government also called for an investigation into how police handled the case because the gunman was questioned by police a day before the carnage about YouTube videos in which he was seen firing his gun. Police said they released him because he hadn’t broken any laws and was not deemed a threat to others.
“It’s clear that we have to carefully go through what should have been done and if we could have avoided this situation in some way,” Interior Minister Anne Holmlund said.
Finnish media identified the gunman as Matti Juhani Saari, a 22-year-old student at the school, which offers courses in catering, tourism, nursing and home economics. Police declined to name him, saying he did not have a previous criminal record.
Witnesses said panic erupted as the masked gunman, dressed in black and carrying a large bag, entered the school just before 11am, and started firing in a classroom where students were taking an exam.
Police were still investigating the identities of the 10 victims yesterday, but said at least one was a teacher.
The gunman shot himself in the head and died hours later at a hospital.
Police said his motive was unclear, though investigation leader Jari Neulaniemi said the gunman left two handwritten messages saying he had planned the attack since 2002 and that he hated the human race.
Gun ownership in Finland is among the highest in the world, but crime rates are low.
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