FINLAND'S government is introducing tougher regulations on handguns following a mass shooting at a school on Tuesday September 23rd, the second in under a year. The country had been among the most lenient in the world, allowing 15-year-olds to keep a handgun under parental supervision, requiring no medical or psychological tests and no minimum wait for those buying weapons. The gun-death rate (whether murder, accident or suicide) in rich countries is highest where there are more guns: America, Switzerland and Finland are in the top four countries for gun ownership per person. The death rate in Britain, which banned handguns following a school shooting in 1996, is 0.1 for every 100,000 people.

AP