Tougher rules on gun storage likely
In the wake of Saturday's fatal shootings, Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen indicated that upcoming changes to gun laws may include stricter rules about keeping firearms under lock and key.
An Interior Ministry working group is reviewing proposals for tougher gun laws that could come into force during the term of the current Parliament.
Interior Minister Päivi Räsänen said Saturday that regulations on the storage of firearms could get stricter. In future, the law may require that all firearms be kept locked in a secure gun cabinet when not in use.
She indicated that lessons might be drawn from the weekend's shootings, in which two people were killed and seven wounded.
"Now it is important to determine how the weapons were being stored and if there are indications in this of how the law should be improved. For example, could a requirement be made, after a sufficiently long transition period, that all firearms must be stored in some kind of secure cabinet, or in some other place approved by police in the gun license holder's home?" Räsänen speculated.
The newspaper Iltasanomat quoted the head of the investigations into the events in Hyvinkää to the effect that the gunman had stolen the two rifles used in the shootings from a private home.
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