When I started this on-and-off series about my impressions of my stay about halfway up Finland, I thought it would be about slow drivers (done that one); cheap houses (started that one - needs to be continued) and the fact that there aren't department stores (to come).

What I didn't expect is that I'd need to write again about a school shooting.

Now the first school shooting - now just less than 11 months ago - was in a nondescript location with no particular character that was close enough to Helsinki to be mainly filled with people who actually wanted to live in Helsinki but couldn't afford to. In other words whereas it was still incomprehensible, you could just about begin to understand the "this can't be life" mentality of the shooter.

In this new case (which was very close to the route I took heading North, being not that far from the Seinäjoki of slow-moving cars I reported on last time) it happened in a genuine small town where the advanced education institute looked to be both modern and in a beautiful location (and how about that amazingly beautiful yet very modern church?!).

Yet here too, in the mind of the shooter life apparently wasn't worth living. In the old days teachers would be watching out for such students afraid that they might commit suicide. These days, it seems, the potential risks are much greater.

So, yes, the prime minister is right that hand guns need to be in shooting clubs under lock and key only - even if i remember that over 10 years ago (last time there was a stock market crash after an upswing, in fact) a woman affected by the crash had left a Helsinki shooting club with a gun belonging to the club and shot people on the street - but isn't it a bit late after this second incident, what have they been doing for the past almost 11 months?

Anyway, with sports bags so large, restricting hand guns to shooting clubs will just mean that the next time use will be made of a hunting weapon. They, apparently, aren't considered to be a problem outside clubs because they are bigger. Believe that if you will.

As for whether there will be a next time. I'm very much afraid that without a very large change in the law, there will be a next time. Now people inclined to behave in this way have TWO examples to imitate not just one.

That's it for that unpleasant subject. Next time I *will* talk about cheaper houses and the lack of department stores.