[rbellio]

I really appreciate your response to this article. I've made this argument with a lot of people that just simply refuse to believe it.

I've dug into a lot of the statistical data around gun fatilities in as many nations as possible including the United States. The biggest obstacle is that none of it is standardized. Violent crimes and gun violence is reported differently through municipalities and nations, association of criminal and non-criminal behavior is not effectively broken down. To be honest, it really makes me unsure as to how a lot of the media and political decisions are made.

For instance, nearly two thirds of all gun related deaths in the United States are suicides and gun statistics seem to typically be reported on an overall number versus a per capita basis.

Per capita, Finland has about the same number of guns as the US, approximately the same laws regarding guns and yet, their per capita homicide rate is substantially lower.

[bostik]

This may come as a surprise, but I'm actually in favour of reasonable gun control laws. What I am opposed to is the idiocy of enacting laws as knee-jerk reactions. I'm also afraid that in about 10 years, our firearm homicide rate will go up.

First, some background: I have friends who collect guns. Hell, one of them has a working replica of a light naval blackpowder cannon! My relatives are active and eager hunters, some of them own several different guns (2-3 shotguns, at least 2 different rifles).

Without even looking at statistics, I'm certain that per capita there are more active hunters in Finland than in US. This means that the lessons of use and care of firearms have come from people who by their nature are cautious with their weaponry. If you've been taken out to woods to hunt starting from your pre-teens, you have most likely learned to respect firearms. Not fear - just respect. And having been around actively used and maintained firearms, they may just lose some of their glory.

As to why I think we're going to see a slow rise in our gun homicide rate? There's a rather lengthy story behind that. Finland had their own private financial crisis in early 1990's. One of the victims of severe budget cuts was the youth mental healthcare. It's had even more cuts since then. We're now witnessing the second generation of Finns who haven't had the benefit of pre-1990's level of mental healthcare. There are more undiagnosed unstable people around now.

We've had two school shootings in the past few years. I don't see the situation getting better, so over the next decade we'll very likely see more premeditated gun crimes by people in their early 20's.

I don't have statistics or studies at hand, so please consider everything above my personal opinion.

[rbellio]

I'm in favor of reasonable gun control laws that aren't a reaction to circumstance as well.

Side note: I have a friend who grew up in Northern Finland and was hunting small game since a very early age (I think he said six or seven). He's introduced me to a lot of great Finnish things, like Paleface, salted black licorice and gravlax. I hope to visit there someday.