School massacre makes Finns defensive about gun culture

A teenage killer’s deadly school rampage has put Finns on the defensive about their relationship to guns.

With 1.6 million firearms in private hands, the Nordic nation is an anomaly in Europe, lagging behind only the US and Yemen in civilian gun ownership, studies show.

International gun control activists have urged the Finns to rethink their laws in the wake of Wednesday’s tragedy.

While the government said today it would raise the minimum age for buying guns from 15 to 18, officials insisted there was no need for any sweeping changes to gun laws shaped by deep-rooted traditions of hunting in the sub-Arctic wilderness.

“If you look at the rate of homicides with firearms (in Finland), the figure is very low,” interior ministry spokesman Ilkka Salmi said.

“People using guns are hunters. They live in rural areas. It’s part of the life over there.”

According to a government study in 2002, only 14% of homicides in Finland are gun-related.

Finns are sensitive to their international image, and often complain that their country is portrayed as a gloomy northern outpost of Europe, where long and dark winters drive people to binge drinking, suicide or random outbursts of violence.

Wednesday’s bloodshed did little to help.