Interior Minister Anne Holmlund has been flummoxed by the Finnish medical Association's icy reception of a proposal for doctors to help evaluate the mental health of gun license applicants.
According to a report in the newspaper Keskisuomalainen, the Minister said that doctors aren’t being asked to perform miracles, but that they are the best options for detecting any possible mental health issues in applicants.
"I fervently hope that the FMA akes the view that we're all working towards a safer Finland," she added.
The Association's position is that responsibility for granting firearms licenses should remain with the police. "A 10 - 15 minute health centre visit simply is not sufficient time to predict what an applicant's mental health might lead him or her to do in the future," declared the Association's Executive Director, Heikki PÄlve.
"The result would be subjective, because the doctor would be making a decision about granting the permit without any additional information," stressed Pälve.
Holmlund emphasised that all the information that a doctor could glean from an applicant would be important, and that police should also have access to such data. The doctors' duty to report on suspect matters is already in force in Sweden. The Interior Minister would like to learn from the experiences of Finland's Nordic neighbour.