6:28am UK, Wednesday September 24, 2008

Greg Milam, Europe correspondent,
Finland

Authorities in Finland are under pressure to reveal more detail about why police released a 22-year-old the day before he went berserk with a gun killing 10 people.

How was Matti Juhani Saari free to kill?

Matti Juhani Saari was questioned over videos he posted on YouTube which showed him at a shooting range.

He also posted threatening messages including the words: “You die next.”

Finnish authorities say they had no legal grounds to hold him or remove his temporary firearms licence.

But, less than a year after eight people were gunned down at a high school in Jokela, Finns are questioning whether rules on gun ownership are tough enough.

Only the United States and Yemen have higher levels of gun ownership than Finland

People here say the country’s hunting and sporting tradition have always made that acceptable.

But two almost identical shooting sprees, both involving handguns, are certain to bring calls for change.

“Last time it was put down as one individual going crazy with a gun,” one Finnish teacher told Sky News. “It is hard to say that after it has happened for a second time.

Pekka Eric Auvinen obtained his gun legally a month before last year’s shooting.

He had also posted threatening videos on YouTube in the run-up to his massacre.

After that the government raised the minimum age for gun ownership from 15 to 18, the same as the rest of Europe.

It was after the Dunblane massacre in Scotland in March 1996, in which 16 children and their teacher were killed, that laws on handgun ownership were tightened in the UK.

The Finnish government has declared Wednesday a day of national mourning.

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said: “We, as a society, should be united so that events like these will not happen again.”

The people of Finland feel those promises were made last time.