School shooting in Finland leaves one dead - what are the gun laws in Finland?

A school shooting in Finland saw one child die and two others sent to the hospital with serious injuries. All victims, as well as the suspect, who’s been caught by police, were 12 years old.

School shootings are not something you often hear about in Finland. The last one to happen before this was in 2012. After back-to-back mass shootings in 2007 and 2008, the country changed its gun laws in order to prevent mass shootings as much as possible. According to studies by the Small Arms Survey in 2018, Finland had 32 firearms per 100 residents, putting it amongst the countries with the highest gun ownership. Despite this, mass shootings are extremely rare anymore.

What are Finland’s gun laws?

In Finland, a license is always necessary in order to own a firearm, and all firearms are registered. Guns may only be carried for specific purposes, such as hunting or going to a shooting range. The weapon must not be loaded while being moved from one location to another, and it must be stored safely in a case. The owner is the one responsible for making sure no one who is not authorized gains possession of the gun.

After the two school shootings in 2007 and 2008, Finland drastically reduced the availability of semi-automatic weapons and prohibited any citizen under 20 years old from owning them. The laws regarding owning handguns and revolvers also changed significantly. Since then, any person applying for a handgun license is required to show that they’ve been an active member of a gun club for at least a year, as well as have been vetted by both police and a doctor. They raised the age to own a short barrel weapon to 20 years old, and a hunting rifle to 18 years old. Permits are valid for five years and at that point, must be reviewed.

According to Finnish media, there was a 30% decline in gun permits issued from 2007 to 2013.

Not only did they change the laws, but Finland also had police cancel weapon permits if the owner had been given a criminal conviction or if they had registered mental health issues.

The handgun used in Tuesday’s school shooting was licensed to a close relative of the 12-year-old shooter. The police have charged the child with murder and attempted murder, but said they do not have any details about the motive.