Ten dead in Finland school shooting repeat
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Nine students and a lecturer are dead following a multiple shooting at a vocational college in Finland which has reopened the debate on the widespread ownership of firearms in the country.
Just before 11am local time on Tuesday 23 September, second year culinary arts student Matti Juhani Saari entered the Kauhajoki School of Hospitality wearing a ski mask and carrying a large bag holding a .22 calibre handgun and several petrol bombs.
After opening fire on a group of students sitting an exam, killing nine and one teacher, Saari set fire to the school building. The gunman also shot at emergency services and police as they attended the scene.
Twenty-two year old Saari later died in hospital due to a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
Speaking on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Finnish President Tarja Halonen said: "We have to have very serious discussions and studies on what to do."
The identification of the victims is ongoing, which is reported to be heavily reliant upon DNA testing and dental records following the blaze at the school.
In an echo of a previous school shooting in Finland last November, which claimed eight lives and that of the gunman, Saari had uploaded three videos onto YouTube a week before, each showing him firing a gun and quoting from German metal band Wumpscut’s lyrics.
His account on the site, which has now been closed, revealed links to videos inspired by the 1999 Columbine shootings.
It has since been revealed that Saari and Pekka-Eric Auvinen, the perpetrator of the 2007 murders at Jokela, may have been in contact online, and perhaps even in person.
Saari travelled almost 250 kilometres to purchase his murder weapon at the same shop in Jokela where Auvinen acquired his gun. The firearms were of the same make and model.
Police interviewed Saari in person about the videos on Monday 22 September, but a lack of evidence meant officers were unable to confiscate his gun license or bring any charges.
Searches of his computer and accommodation have since revealed that Saari had been planning his attack since 2002, five years before he began studying at the vocational college 180 miles north of the capital Helsinki.
An investigation is now underway to ensure that no mistakes were made earlier in the week which could have prevented Tuesday’s incident from occurring.
According to a 2007 report carried out by the Graduate Institute for International Studies, private possession of firearms in Finland is amongst the highest in the world, surpassed only by the United States and Yemen.
Traditional hunting activities are the prevailing reason behind the high statistics; however, at present Finns can apply for permission to own a gun from the age of 15, and though Finland enjoys a low crime rate, questions are again being asked regarding the leniency of gun laws.
In the weeks following the 2007 shooting, an immediate government review of firearms legislation was instituted, yet little action has yet been taken.
Gun ownership has little to do with these mass killing events. In Japan a worker rented a truck drove into a crowd then stabbed seventeen killing seven. He was a video game player.
Although video game play is seen as a connection the content of games has little provable effect. The location and how the computer is used could have a more probable cause through Subliminal Distraction exposure.
Subliminal Distraction is explained in college psychology under psychophysics, subliminal sight, and peripheral vision reflexes. In the 1960's it was discovered as a cause of mental breaks for office workers. This event is believed to be a harmless episode of confusion that remits with no treatment. The cubicle was created to deal with the problem by 1968.
Schools are unaware it exists and do not provide Cubicle Level Protection for student study areas or warn them.
VisionAndPsychosis.Net is a five-year investigation of Subliminal Distraction. Several mass killers have circumstantial evidence of this exposure. There is no information about Sarri but Auvinen created the "special circumstances" for exposure when he placed his computer beside a closet door mirror. He could subliminally detect his own movement in peripheral vision every time he used it. That would have caused repeated subliminal attempts to trigger the startle reflex the cause of this phenomenon.
The Auvinen picture is on the Redlake School shooting page at VisionAndPsychosis.Net.