Five days before Matti Juhani Saari murdered 11 people at Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences in 2008, authorities attempted to confiscate his handgun, but he wasn’t home.
Finland violated the rights of the victims of a 2008 school shooting by giving the perpetrator a gun permit, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on Thursday.
Judges at the Strasbourg-based court found that in granting a gun license to the hospitality management student who would go on to kill 11 people and injuring as many more, the Finish government failed to protect its citizens’ right to life.
Nineteen relatives brought the complaint before the rights court, arguing that the police precinct which granted the gun permit only a month before the tragedy.
“The domestic authorities have not observed the special duty of diligence incumbent on them because of the particularly high level of risk to life inherent in any misconduct involving the use of firearms,” the court found in a 6-1 decision.
– Molly Quell in Finnish Police Chief Responsible for 2008 School Mass Shooting That Killed 11