Keith sent me this story:
Finnish police said they have found a body that they believe to be that of 43-year-old Ibrahim Shkupolli, the man suspected to have killed five people in the city of Espoo today.
Shkupolli apparently shot dead his ex-wife in an apartment before heading to the Sello shopping mall in Espoo dressed all in black.
Yes, it's easy to jump to conclusions; it just makes me wonder.
And, of course, Politicians, social workers and religious leaders have all urged tighter gun laws, more vigilance of internet sites, and more social bonding in a country known for its high suicide rates, heavy drinking and domestic violence.
According to this list from WHO, Finland is 15th on the list; way below a bunch of countries with near- or actual bans on ownership of arms(hey, we're #43! I thought all those nasty guns meant it was worse here...) I know there's a WHO list of violent crime rates, but can't find it right now for some reason; did find this on homicide, and it looks like both the US and Finland have a LOT of countries above us on the list. And I think- it's been pointed to before- these figures are skewed by how things are reported: for instance, in the US if you shoot someone in self-defense(or whack them with a bat or whatever) and they die, that's counted in the 'homicide' numbers(Justifiable Homicide as I recall).
Not that any of that matters to the 'politicians, social workers and religious leaders' who want everyone except minions of the government disarmed.
5 comments:
It's not a Finnish name. The guy was a Kosovo Albanian that had lived in Finland for a long time.
Just heard the Irish radio news; they say the perp had a crimminal record, so presumably not legally entitled to have a gun.
K
In Britain, recording a death as homicide depends on the outcome of an inquest or crimminal trial.
I gather that in the US, if it looks like a Homicide when the cops find a body, then it is recorded as one.
Hence the two countries real figures are probably a bit closer together than the published ones.
I believe the naming convention for the Finns is similar to that of neighboring Estonia, that is, strongly influenced by Germany and Sweden.
Keith, I believe the FBI figures that WHO used lump a bunch of things into the 'homicide' category; for instance, if you kill someone in self-defense it's recorded as a 'justifiable homicide'. That includes good shoots by law enforcement, too; it's been pointed out that using the overall number instead of breaking it down to 'criminal and non-criminal' makes our numbers look worse than they are.
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