The state as arms-dealer
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By Tanja Vasama
Next week you’ll be able to get them again. The Ministry of the Interior will be auctioning off just over a hundred guns to enthusiasts in Riihimäki on Wednesday.
It has been possible to hand over illegal weapons to the police since 2004, and in practice for a longer period than this.
A total of around 90,000 firearms have been collected and sold in that time.
Many of the weapons, it must be said, come from the estates of deceased persons.
They are recycled at auction into the hands of buyers with the requisite licences in order.
Not long ago a collection of firearms was sold for EUR 47,000. The state taxed the auction costs, but in other respects the revenue from sales went to the vendors.
So basically the state operates as an arms-dealer.
“Yes, it sounds strange, and it doesn’t look very good, but what is the alternative? Who is going to sell them?”enquires Jouni Laiho, from the Ministry of the Interior’s lotteries and firearms section.
On Friday, however, the ministry made a concession.
It announced that on this occasion it would be withdrawing all hand-guns from the auction list.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 28.9.2008
Note: On Monday the Ministry of the Interior announced it had decided to cancel Wednesday's firearms auction in Riihimäki. The event was to have sold off around 200 guns, of which something like 40 were pistols and revolvers.
The reason given for the cancellation was the school shooting in Kauhajoki last Tuesday. An auction of this nature was not considered suitable in the current situation, and the event has been cancelled altogether, said the ministry statement.
A date for a possible new auction will be determined later. Running firearms auctions of this type is one the tasks designated to the police.
Among the weapons on sale are those that have been confiscated under the terms of the Firearms Act.
The Finnish branch of the peace organisation Committee of 100 had criticised the upcoming auction last week.
More on this subject:
 A farewell to small arms?
TANJA VASAMA / Helsingin Sanomat
tanja.vasama@hs.fi
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