The massacre has shaken the nation of hunters which has never seen the need for security in its schools.

When the European Union proposed raising the legal age for possessing a firearm to 18 earlier this year, there were protests from Finland, which argued that hunting was a popular leisure activity and crime rates were low.

But yesterday the Trade Minister, Mauri Pekkarinen, said that the carnage in the small lakeside town of Tuusula meant the government should reconsider the law allowing anyone aged 15 or over to apply for a gun licence. "I believe we have to critically think over Finland's position one more time. I am ready to take this up in the government," he told Reuters news agency.

Laura Lodenius, a Finnish member of the International Action Network on Small Arms (Iansa), agreed. "The devastated families of Tuusula now join those of Virginia Tech [and] Columbine," she said. Iansa statistics show that Finland has the highest rate of gun ownership in western Europe and suffers the third highest rate of gun deaths, after Switzerland and France. "We ask the Finnish government to strengthen its guns laws immediately," Ms Lodenius said.

Flags flew at half mast across the country as it mourned the six pupils, headmistress and nurse at Jokela High School who were gunned down by Pekka-Eric Auvinen. Police said the gunman fired at least 69 rounds from his .22 calibre handgun as he roamed the classrooms, trying to shoot as many people as possible, aiming for the head or upper body and riddling some of his victims with as many as 20 bullets.

The gunman, who police described as "a lonely person with a strong anger against society and radical thoughts", also tried to start a fire on the second floor of the school, dousing the corridors and walls with a flammable liquid, before locking himself in a bathroom and shooting himself in the head.

"Based on all we know he decided to commit a random, incomprehensible act," said Inspector Rabbe von Hertzen of Finland's National Bureau of Investigation. Shaken students and teachers spoke of Auvinen's fascination with Hitler and Stalin and his obsession with weapons, internet war games and revolutionary history. Some suggested he had been bullied.

One classmate, Tuomas Hulkkonen, who said he knew the blond-haired student well, told Finnish television how he had noticed changes. "He withdrew into his shell... and I thought that perhaps he was a bit depressed, or something, but I couldn't imagine that in reality he would do anything like this," he said.

It appears the 18-year-old had been planning the slaughter for at least three weeks after getting a licence for the pistol, which he nicknamed "Catherine".

Police said the gunman had left a suicide note, but did not give any details other than that he was "saying goodbye to his family".

Families and friends of his victims lit candles and took flowers to lay in the school grounds in Tuusula, 40 miles north of Helsinki.