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Finnish Shootings Trigger Call for Gun-Law Changes

By Green Point,  Newser User

Posted Sep 24, 2008 11:07 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Responding to a grieving Finland, the country's prime minister called for stricter gun laws in the wake of yesterday's school shooting. Matti Vanhanen questioned the legality of private handgun ownership, calling guns more fit for shooting ranges. It may be a difficult case to make in a country with 1.6 million private firearms and where 15-year-olds can own guns, reports the BBC.

Killer Matti Juhani Saari held a valid gun license, as did the attacker in last November's shooting, which killed eight. Vanhanen also touched upon changes to Internet monitoring, in response to videos posted by Saari. "The Internet and YouTube forums are not another planet. This is part of our world and we adults have the responsibility to check what is happening, and create borders and safety there."

A young woman, right, is helped back onto her feet after laying flowers alongside other tributes outside Kauhajoki vocational high school in Kauhajoki, Finland, Wednesday Sept. 24, 2008.
A young woman, right, is helped back onto her feet after laying flowers alongside other tributes outside Kauhajoki vocational high school in Kauhajoki, Finland, Wednesday Sept. 24, 2008.   (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
As a mark of national mourning, the Finnish flag flies at half-staff as a military police officer stands guard at Kauhajoki vocational high school in Kauhajoki, Finland, Wednesday Sept. 24, 2008.
As a mark of national mourning, the Finnish flag flies at half-staff as a military police officer stands guard at Kauhajoki vocational high school in Kauhajoki, Finland, Wednesday Sept. 24, 2008.   (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)
Members of Finland's Parliament in Helsinki, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008, stand in silence to pay their respects to the victims of the Kauhajoki school shooting.
Members of Finland's Parliament in Helsinki, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008, stand in silence to pay their respects to the victims of the Kauhajoki school shooting.   (AP Photo/Pekka Sakki)
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In terms of handguns that can easily be carried about, we have to think about whether they should be available for private people. - PM Matti Vanhanen

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It was asked last November: Could there be fallout for YouTube?
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school shooting • Finland • Finland school massacre • gun laws • Matti Juhani Saari • Matti Vanhanen

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