A history of violence: School shootings in focus
Matti Juhani Saari posted videos on the internet before his killing spree
Also In The News
|
Sir Alex Ferguson has warned newly-rich Manchester City that money will not guarantee success at Eastlands. |  |
Friday, 26, Sep 2008 09:01
Nine innocent students and a teacher were killed in a school shooting in Finland on Tuesday. The incident comes just ten months after nine people were killed in a similar shooting at another Finnish school.
Disturbing images of the gunman Matti Juhani Saari posted on the internet days before this week's massacre have promoted widespread criticism of police handling of the case and led to calls for a review of the nation's gun laws.
inthenews.co.uk looks back at other tragic school shootings and the impact they had.
The most notorious school shooting in UK history was at Dunblane primary school on March 13th 1996.
On that day, Thomas Watt Hamilton, 44, walked into the Scottish school armed with two Browning pistols and two Smith & Wesson Magnum revolvers. Upon entering the school he embarked on a deadly rampage, walking into lessons and shooting wildly at children and teachers.
Hamilton killed 16 children and a member of staff before turning his weapons on himself and committing suicide.
The tragic incident was received with horror by the British public and led to the ban of almost all types of handguns.
With some of the most lax gun laws in the world the United States has witnessed some of the most infamous school massacres.
The inspiration for Michael Moore's Oscar-winning Bowling for Columbine, the Columbine shooting saw a total of 15 people being killed.
On April 20th 1999, students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and a teacher at Columbine high school, wounding 23 others, before committing suicide.
The incident provoked huge debate over gun control laws within the US but no major legislation was passed as a result of the deaths.
Last year, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University witnessed the deadliest shooting incident by a single gunman in America's history.
Virginia Tech student Cho Seung-hui killed 32 people and wounded many more in two separate shooting incidents before killing himself.
The tragic incident attracted huge criticism of the gun laws in relation to those suffering from mental illness. Cho, 22, had previously been treated with severe anxiety disorder and in 2005 was accused of stalking two female students before being declared mentally ill by a Virginia health expert.
The incident led to the US government passing the most significant gun control law in over a decade with measures put in place to prevent the purchase of weapons by criminals and those declared mentally ill.
In Finland in November 2007, 18-year-old Pekka-Eric Auvinen killed six students, the school's headmaster, nurse and himself at the Jokela high school.
The teenager, like Saari, owned a legitimate gun licence and was authorised to carry weapons.
Despite the tradition of hunting in Finland, this week's tragic shooting has led to the country's prime minister Matti Vanhanen call for a review of the nation's gun laws.
He, like the rest of the country, families of school shooting victims and the entire public will hope the move will prevent any future tragedies from unfolding.