The New York Times is reporting that Finland, where Tuesday morning’s fatal, school shooting occurred, has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Europe.
Authorities in that northern nation reportedly arrested a 12-year-old suspect in connection with the school shooting in which one student was killed and two others were seriously wounded.
According to the BBC, the suspect fled from the school but was apprehended and detained by police.
The incident occurred in the community of Vantaa, which lies north of the capital city of Helsinki. CNN is reporting the handgun used in the shooting was licensed to “a close relative of the shooter.”
CNN noted this is not the first school shooting in Finland. Back in 2007, the network recalled, a shooting occurred in Tuusula in which then-18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen opened fire killing eight people and wounding ten more. Auvinen then committed suicide.
Several months later, in 2008, a 22-year-old murderer identified as Matti Juhani Saari killed ten people at a college—the School of Hospitality—in the city of Kauhajoki in southwest Finland, about 200 miles northwest from Helsinki. Saari also killed himself.
Fox News reported that Finland “tightened” its gun regulations in 2010, “requiring an aptitude test for all firearms license applicants and raising the age limit for applicants from 18 to 20.”
Tuesday’s shooting demonstrated that even in Finland, people intent on committing violent acts with firearms are not deterred by gun laws.
While police are investigating the shooting, the BBC is reporting that children under age 15 “are not criminally liable” in Finland. Therefore, the news agency said, “the suspect has not been remanded in custody and will be placed in the care of social services after further questioning.”
In May 2022, WHEC News fact-checked statements by politicians that school shootings only happen in this country. It was in reaction to a statement by Connecticut Democrat Sen. Chris Murphy who asserted, : Nowhere else does that happen except here in the United States of America.” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, another Democrat, made a similar argument.
WHEC revealed otherwise, noting, “School shootings have been characterized as an American problem. However, they have happened in other countries including Scotland, Germany, Finland and France just to name a few. So if someone says this is a problem only in America, that is false.”
