A tragic shooting at a school outside the Finnish capital has left one child dead and two others seriously wounded, police reported on April 2. The suspected perpetrator, a 12-year-old fellow pupil, has been taken into custody.
This incident is not the first of its kind in Finland, as the country has seen previous school shootings that have raised concerns about gun policy. In 2007, a student named Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed six students, the school nurse, the principal, and himself at Jokela High School near Helsinki. A year later, in 2008, another student named Matti Saari opened fire at a vocational school in Kauhajoki, killing nine students and one staff member before taking his own life.
In response to these tragic events, Finland has implemented stricter gun regulations over the years. In 2010, the country tightened its gun legislation and introduced an aptitude test for all firearms license applicants. The minimum age for applicants was also raised to 20 from 18.
Currently, there are more than 1.5 million licensed firearms and about 430,000 license holders in Finland, a country with a population of 5.6 million. Hunting and target shooting are popular activities, and permits for acquiring firearms are granted by local police departments or the National Police Board.
The recent school shooting serves as a grim reminder of the importance of gun control measures and the need to ensure the safety of all individuals, especially children, in educational settings.