Finland rejects ban on semi-automatic weapons
Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 9:22 am
Finland will not impose a full ban on semi-automatic weapons, rejecting an inquiry commission proposal following two deadly school shootings.
Source: from http://www.snowflakesinhell.com/2010/06 ... n-finland/ to http://news.za.msn.com/world/article.as ... =153854330
Finland will not impose a full ban on semi-automatic weapons, the interior minister said Monday, rejecting an inquiry commission proposal following two deadly school shootings.
"I will not take this proposal forward as it is," Interior Minister Anne Holmlund told national broadcaster YLE in a televised interview.
"I don't really believe that the banning of one approach in weapons would be the way to ensure massacres are prevented," she said, adding several different actions were needed, including giving police wider access to information about gun licence applicants.
An inquiry commission created following shootings at two Finnish schools in 2007 and 2008, which left 20 people including the killers dead, proposed in February that Finland ban all semi-automatic handguns to help prevent such incidents in the future.
A killing spree at the Sello shopping mall near Helsinki last New Year's Eve reignited the debate on gun laws in the Nordic country, where hunting has a long tradition and per capita gun ownership is among the highest in the world.
Finland's parliament is currently debating a new gun law, and the so-called Kauhajoki inquiry commission had asked Holmlund to back its proposal for a total ban on semi-automatic handguns in the new legislation.
"Both the school shootings of recent years and the Sello massacre were carried out using semi-automatic weapons.
"It is clear that single shot weapons would not have created similar victim figures," Pekka Sauri, chairman of the Kauhajoki commission told YLE.
"One only hopes the government comes up with methods that are as effective in preventing these types of incidents," Sauri said.
Source: from http://www.snowflakesinhell.com/2010/06 ... n-finland/ to http://news.za.msn.com/world/article.as ... =153854330
Finland will not impose a full ban on semi-automatic weapons, the interior minister said Monday, rejecting an inquiry commission proposal following two deadly school shootings.
"I will not take this proposal forward as it is," Interior Minister Anne Holmlund told national broadcaster YLE in a televised interview.
"I don't really believe that the banning of one approach in weapons would be the way to ensure massacres are prevented," she said, adding several different actions were needed, including giving police wider access to information about gun licence applicants.
An inquiry commission created following shootings at two Finnish schools in 2007 and 2008, which left 20 people including the killers dead, proposed in February that Finland ban all semi-automatic handguns to help prevent such incidents in the future.
A killing spree at the Sello shopping mall near Helsinki last New Year's Eve reignited the debate on gun laws in the Nordic country, where hunting has a long tradition and per capita gun ownership is among the highest in the world.
Finland's parliament is currently debating a new gun law, and the so-called Kauhajoki inquiry commission had asked Holmlund to back its proposal for a total ban on semi-automatic handguns in the new legislation.
"Both the school shootings of recent years and the Sello massacre were carried out using semi-automatic weapons.
"It is clear that single shot weapons would not have created similar victim figures," Pekka Sauri, chairman of the Kauhajoki commission told YLE.
"One only hopes the government comes up with methods that are as effective in preventing these types of incidents," Sauri said.