Finland Revises Brand New Gun Law - The Nordic Reporter

Finland is again reviewing the new weapons law, in effect since June, in response to the attacks in Oslo.

The Finnish police leadership confirmed this to Finnish media on Tuesday. Just in June, a new gun law came into effect in Finland, which had been a reaction on the school shootings in 2007 and 2008 and in a shopping centre in 2010. A total of 23 people were killed in these incidents. Since June, the minimum age to possess a handgun has been raised from 18 to 20 and the license is reviewed every five years.

But according to two Finnish police chiefs, that is not enough. In Finland there are 32 private firearms per 100 inhabitants, according to the Finnish Ministry of the Interior. The country has 5.4 million people.

Sweden is also looking at its gun law. The Justice Ministry in Stockholm believes that about 2,500 of the 9.6 million Swedes have a similar firearms license as Anders Behring Brevik, the Norwegian who confessed to committing the attacks in Oslo. In most Swedish cases this would be members of the regional defence and police. | © 2011 Marcel Burger for ANP News Agency (original in Dutch, 26 July 2011)

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