Why does Finland Lead the World in Mass Shootings?

Norway was a one-off with the Anders Breivik thing but Finland? What's in the water?
www.rampageshooting.com...

1. Norway - 15.3 per capita
2. Finland - 3.50
3. Slovakia - 1.47
4. Israel - 1.38
5. Belgium - 0.63
6. US - 0.59
7. Netherlands - 0.42
8. Germany - 0.31
9. UK - 0.19
10. Canada - 0.17

Depending on the time of year too much sunlight or darkness makes them go a little crazy.. plus they drink a lot of vodka, that can't help..

reply to post by AtticusRye


Very interesting chart. Guns are restricted there and it looks like suicide is high there as well. If one looks at the restrictive column the US is the only country in the top 10 that have permissive gun laws. Simply goes to show some of the hype being pushed for gun control here.

Pretty shocked at that tbh.

Was really expecting USA or China to be topping the tables behind Norway.

Ive never even heard of one being reported on in Finland.

reply to post by redrose123


Good points ... another thing I notice is that 7 of the top 10 countries have more psychiatrists than average. I wish they had a column that showed % of population on psyhoactive medication, but this may say almost as much.

reply to post by Snoopie

That may be because they dont have a rabid media like we do.

I'm surprised Canada and UK are even on the list Don't they have strict gun ban laws? Just goes to show you...

reply to post by Snoopie


probably has to do with how the human mind processes information

if one happens once a week in the U.S. the total number of shootings may be relatively small given the size of the U.S. but our brain just remembers hearing about a mass shooting every week in America

if one happens once a *year* in Finland the total number of shootings may be high given the tiny size of Finland and it becomes easy to forget

solitude + ammo + the blues

not good

norwegians are kinda known for depression as well

like me

reply to post by AtticusRye

Exactly. Look at the first two colums, total rampage shooting fatalities and population. Then, for grins, check out the homicides per 100,000 column.

Note that there are only 3 countries whose gun laws are listed as "Permissive" -- Belgium, US and Austria.

Belgium and US are in the Top 10 for mass shootings, but Austria has 00.00 mass shooting fatalities. Austria also has one of the lowest assault rates (but a high suicide rate).

Are there any Austrian ATSers who can describe the gun laws there? What exactly does "permissive" mean?

I know Finland's always had a problem with depression that the long winter nights get blamed on . Heredity probably plays a bit of a role as well .

If that chart is per capita.. its pretty obvious as to why.

Finland pop 5,387,000 - 2011

USA pop 311,591,917 - Jul 2011

Or maybe they are all violent horrible rabidly drunken people who live in igloos and never see the sun....

"per capita" stats are kind of weird...

see... when a country like finland has 5,000,000 people, 2 mass shootings is actually more than a country that has 10 mass shootings BUT it has 300.000.000 people.

It doesnt really make finland worse that THAT country with 300.000.000 ppl... is that those 10 mass shootings that actually killed more, were diluted in the total population. Still like I said, it doesnt make it worse.

If you fart in a restaurant with 2 people... they all hear it, give you the looks and you never go back to that restaurant again. If you do it at walmart on a black friday, who cares? You're only one fart in 200.

Originally posted by Advantage
If that chart is per capita.. its pretty obvious as to why.

It doesn't explain "why."

What it says is that every 5 million people in the U.S. will only be 1/7th as likely to be killed by a spree shooter as every 5 million people in Finland (if Finland has a population of about 5 million).

And it's not like this is all from a one-off event, either. From the same site, tiny Finland has had three mass shootings in the last five years. If the number of mass shootings increased proportionally with population, Finland would have around 200 mass shootings if it were the size of the US.



Finland, 2008 (Kauhajoki School Shooting – 11 fatalities)

yle.fi...


Finland, 2009 (Sello Mall Shooting – 6 fatalities)

www.dailymail.co.uk...


Finland, 2012 (Sniper Attack – 2 fatalities)

www.bbc.co.uk...

Originally posted by AtticusRye
Note that there are only 3 countries whose gun laws are listed as "Permissive" -- Belgium, US and Austria.

Belgium and US are in the Top 10 for mass shootings, but Austria has 00.00 mass shooting fatalities. Austria also has one of the lowest assault rates (but a high suicide rate).

Are there any Austrian ATSers who can describe the gun laws there? What exactly does "permissive" mean?

If Wikipedia is correct, I just answered my own question about guns in Austria.

en.wikipedia.org...

Fully Automatic Weapons - Banned
Semi-Automatic Weapons - Permitted (License, Registration and Background Check Required)
Revolvers & Bolt-Action Rifles - Permitted (Registration and Background Check Required)
Break-Action Shotguns - Permitted (no requirements)

reply to post by AtticusRye


Please read the post right above yours.. Per capita stats are notorious for misrepresenting the actual WHYs of anything.

reply to post by AtticusRye


Aren't these statistics misleading? The statistics are Per capita.

As far as how many shootings occured and how many deaths happened. The US leads the world!

Originally posted by Advantage
reply to post by AtticusRye

 

Please read the post right above yours..

Per capita stats are notorious for misrepresenting the actual WHYs of anything.

For the second time, the chart doesn't say "why." That was the question advanced by this thread.

Oh yeah ...

Originally posted by foodstamp
reply to post by AtticusRye

 

Aren't these statistics misleading? The statistics are Per capita.

Presenting statistics on a per capita basis is how similar groups of a different size are compared.

Originally posted by foodstampAs far as how many shootings occured and how many deaths happened. The US leads the world!

The US leads the 34 nations on the table in population so it will lead in every single category by your logic - deaths, births, people with red hair, fat people, skinny people, people who have had kidney transplants, Olympic gold medalists, priests, police, firefighters, millionaires, criminals, rapists ...

Once again, presenting statistics on a per capita basis is how similar groups of a different size are compared.

A stunningly basic math concept. (Though it's starting to be clear to me, based on the above few posts by Yanks saying "derrrr, i don't get none o' dat per capita fanciness", that the U.S. clearly leads the world in those with below-average educations, which is not a flame as I have statistics to demonstrate that, as well ... link:
www.huffingtonpost.com...)