Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) -- Finland's second deadly school shooting in a year provoked debate over its gun laws and policing after the government said officers interviewed the assailant the day before he opened fire at his catering college.

The student, who killed 10 people, was questioned by officers after posting a video on the YouTube Web site of him firing a handgun at a shooting range on Sept. 19, Interior Minister Anne Holmlund said. Police found no grounds to revoke the license he obtained in August, she said. The attack echoed an assault on a Finnish school less than a year earlier.

``One such incident could be a freak event, but now, we've had a second, I'm shocked,'' Tuula Gordon, professor of sociology at Helsinki University, said yesterday after the incident in Kauhajoki, about 330 kilometers (205 miles) from the capital. ``There will be a discussion now on gun laws.''

Finland, where hunting is among the most popular pastimes, has the most guns per capita in Europe, according to Amnesty International. The previous school shooting in Finland, in November, claimed the lives of eight people and prompted the government to promise a crackdown. In that case, the gunman also had posted images of himself on YouTube.

Police said today they closed schools in Pyhaejaervi, 450 kilometers northwest of Helsinki, and in Joroinen, 300 kilometers north of the capital, after unspecified threats.

`So Many Guns'

Drafting the new Firearms Act began at the Interior Ministry today and will be debated in parliament next spring, Holmlund said in an e-mailed statement. Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said yesterday the government plans to hasten the implementation of new European Union laws on gun control.

``I hope that gun-ownership laws will be tightened,'' local resident Tiina Rantakoski said in an interview near the school in Kauhajoki, a rural town of 14,500 people. ``Each applicant should be examined closely to see what the gun will be used for. Do we really need so many guns?''

Finland has a population of 5.3 million and 1.8 million weapons in civilian hands, according to Amnesty, the third- highest rate in the world after the U.S. and Yemen.

The Finnish Shooting Sports Federation said the country already has strict enough gun laws. Olli Nepponen, deputy chairman of the federation and a member of the Finnish parliament said today ``it's a question of compliance with the law.'' The gunman wasn't a member of the federation, he said.

EU Laws

In May, EU ministers approved gun legislation, including increased checks on who can own weapons, stricter vetting on who can buy them, and a ban on the purchase of firearms by people under 18. A key aim was to prevent guns getting into the hands of the mentally unstable, according to Arlene McCarthy, chairwoman of the European Parliament's consumer-protection committee.

``We predicted this, we saw some problems in this area, we tightened up the rules,'' she said yesterday. Now the member states must ``get on with implementing them,'' and not wait until the 2010 deadline for their introduction across the EU, she said.

Finland's government hasn't yet changed its laws to bring them in line with the EU legislation. At the moment, police checks include an hour-long interview for first-time gun license buyers to assess an applicant's suitability, according to Jouni Laiho, director general at the Interior Ministry.

The gunman obtained a temporary license for his first gun in August, Holmlund said yesterday at a press briefing, identifying the man as Matti Saari. He appears to have been motivated by hate, the police said today in an e-mailed statement.

``We must review if more detailed and tighter guidelines need to be issued,'' Holmlund said.

The man started firing at 10:54 a.m. local time before police surrounded the catering school, Holmlund said. The suspect died after shooting himself in the head, said Rauno Ihalainen, director of the Pirkanmaa hospital district.

Eight Women

The college is attended by about 200 students, most in their late teens or early 20s. Eight victims were female students, one was a male student and one a male staff member, police said.

``This is very sad because I graduated myself from the school,'' said Marja-Leena Laine, a local resident, speaking close to the site of the shooting. ``First I thought this was a big joke, as this could never happen here. Gun laws should have been tightened earlier.''

Six high-school pupils and two staff members were killed in the November shooting at Jokela High School, until yesterday the deadliest peacetime attack in Finland's history.

Yesterday's shooting spree in Kauhajoki is the worst recorded on a school campus worldwide since a gunman in the U.S. killed 32 fellow students and teachers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in April 2007. Flags flew at half- staff above the rooftops of Helsinki today.

``One of the problems with these school shootings is that children are getting access to violent films and in Finland, the situation with easy access to weapons,'' said Mike Berry, a professor of criminal psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University in England. ``Kids are seeing these shootings as a way of getting their own back, as they have probably been the victims of bullying, are lonely and isolated.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Kati Pohjanpalo in Helsinki at kpohjanpalo@bloomberg.net; Dara Doyle in Dublin at ddoyle1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 24, 2008 10:05 EDT