On Sat, 21 Jul 2001, David Honig wrote:

I've read that the Finnish Surgeon General (equiv.) *recommends* the use of silencers; and the use is common for keeping peace with neighbors too.

This was news to me, but it might well be. Perhaps it's just seen as practical in urban areas. I'd really like to get my hands on the reference, though.

You can't imagine how amusing/twisted that is in the US, where silencers are linked with al capone, etc.

So they are in Finland, they just do not generate the noise. Gun related crime really isn't much of an issue, here. A knife is the Finnish killer's weapon of choice, or in some cases, an axe. It's a redneck sorta deal, basically. Sampo Syreeni, aka decoy, mailto:decoy@iki.fi, gsm: +358-50-5756111 student/math+cs/helsinki university, http://www.iki.fi/~decoy/front