Finland To Open 300 Shooting Ranges to Boost Interest in National Defence

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maximus otter

maximus otter

Well-Known Member
Finland has announced it will open 300 shooting ranges in a bid to encourage citizens to take a greater interest in national defence.

A member of Finland’s defence committee said the move would help Finns improve their shooting skills in the face of increased threats from Russia.

Under the Finnish constitution, every male aged between 18 and 60 must complete national army service but the government hopes that civilians will keep their weapons skills after the period of conscription with the new range proposals.

Jukka Kopra, the Finnish politician, said: “The present government aims to increase the number of shooting ranges in Finland from roughly 600-700 up to 1,000.

There are currently around 600 ranges in Finland, compared with 2,000 at the turn of the 21st century.

news.yahoo.com

Finland to open 300 shooting ranges to boost interest in national defence

Finland has announced it will open 300 shooting ranges in a bid to encourage citizens to take a greater interest in national defence.
news.yahoo.com news.yahoo.com

maximus otter
 
The same level of provision in England would give about 10,000 rifle ranges. Gives an idea of how grossly inadequate provisions here are, although even I would concede that 10,000 ranges might be a few more than really needed.
 
This goes back to the English Bowman , who also had to practice regularly by law. Lets be fair - it B-well works ! We are now in an time when the majority of our young adults have zero trigger time . IMO regular armed forces ( away from certain units) have only a very basic level of firearms training.
Look how guys are fighting in Ukraine at present , its still very much a requirement . A big part of why Finland etc are not the pushover Likewise Switzerland. The attempted invasions of the USA through Alaska on the face of it was a smart idea by the Japs , until they encountered the locals skill and experience.
We might no longer pure cannon fodder to recklessly charge into the enemy trenches, but if it comes to it we do i feel have potentially a need and we are 99% ignoring this by imagining any war we fight will not be field to field , bridge to bridge , house to house - Ultimately that's how every war will end up unless it goes quickly to Nukes !
UK forces general "skill at arms " is basically utter pants for the vast majority of UK forces
 
Sorry but this is BS news. Nobody's going to open any range.

There are several shooting enthusiasts in the Finnish Parliament, including Jukka Kopra that's mentioned (chairman of Defense Committee) and Spokesman Jussi Halla-aho. But at most they can ease up the legislation that is responsible for the decimation of 2/3 shooting ranges in the last two decades.

Problem is, that new environmental permits were introduced, and there's also very wide appeal possibility to prevent new ranges from being built and getting existing ranges shut down or severely restricted. You don't have to live in the area, appealing doesn't cost anything and if the appeal is not succesful you can make new appeal the very next day.

Currently there's two kind of permits, one granted by Ministry of Interior that deals with the possibility to open range (you must have responsible persons etc.) And then the environmental permit that is granted by Ministry of Environment. Many officials there have very tinted view of the world, and if nothing else they will require all kinds of testing (pollution, noise etc.) that might costs tens or even hundreds of thousands.

So best we can hope, now that Finnish Government is comprised of somewhat rational parties, is that legislation would be changed so that either Ministry of Interior or Ministry of Agriculture takes whole responsibility of the permit process. And the appeal system will be reworked to be more realistic.

If that happens, the shooters will still need to pay for any and all range construction. Of course there could be some involvment of local municipalities if the local politicians so decide. But there won't be 300 new ranges magically springing out of the ground, FOC to the shooters.
 
jthyttin said:
Problem is, that new environmental permits were introduced, and there's also very wide appeal possibility to prevent new ranges from being built and getting existing ranges shut down or severely restricted. You don't have to live in the area, appealing doesn't cost anything and if the appeal is not succesful you can make new appeal the very next day.
Click to expand...

Reading the full, original report (at the link) reveals:

"...the spokesman added: “The environmental permit processes and legislation concerning shooting ranges will be streamlined."

maximus otter
 
Heym SR20 said:
Quite a few at Bisley, and then dotted around the country. Up here in Edinburgh we have several within an hour and a bit drive.
Click to expand...
To answer my own question the NRA lists just short of 400 clubs, which I assume are all affiliated. Then there will be others that are HO approved but not NRA affiliated. There may be a few anomalies on the NRA website, for example it lists the Offa's DykeRifle Club under Yorkshire area. So we could have maybe 500+ fullbore ranges in the UK.
 
malmick said:
To answer my own question the NRA lists just short of 400 clubs, which I assume are all affiliated. Then there will be others that are HO approved but not NRA affiliated. There may be a few anomalies on the NRA website, for example it lists the Offa's DykeRifle Club under Yorkshire area. So we could have maybe 500+ fullbore ranges in the UK.
Click to expand...
Not all clubs have their own ranges.
 
malmick said:
To answer my own question the NRA lists just short of 400 clubs, which I assume are all affiliated. Then there will be others that are HO approved but not NRA affiliated. There may be a few anomalies on the NRA website, for example it lists the Offa's DykeRifle Club under Yorkshire area. So we could have maybe 500+ fullbore ranges in the UK.
Click to expand...
TBF there are a fair few 100 yard and less shooting ranges , it would not surprise me if there was above 20- 30 in my own County of Lancashire. there was 5 within about 1/2 hours drive from where i used to live ( many of them rubbish but none the less there are a few about ) .

The average age in those clubs was well beyond age of military service and if you forced them all run one mile above half the members would need an ambulance LOL ! I am mid fifties and i could run a mile but i would need a fair recovery time before i could take a truly accurate shot , very different when in my teens and twenties . Lets hope it doesn't come to that eh ? All said and done forget the big talk Putin is currently loosing ground in Ukraine and has been busy knocking off those that disagree with him militarily and his senior military seem terrified of speaking out about his over ambitious / rushed and ill-thought through plans
 
Grant Shapps to invest in recorded message machine. "We give in...we give in...we give in." Tory MPs lining up to be appointed Quisling in Chief. You look at the present Tory Party, especially Johnson's Cabinet, and it's not too difficult to see the ones who, if they had been alive would have been collaborators had the Nazis triumphed in 1940.
 
Bowland blades said:
TBF there are a fair few 100 yard and less shooting ranges , it would not surprise me if there was above 20- 30 in my own County of Lancashire. there was 5 within about 1/2 hours drive from where i used to live ( many of them rubbish but none the less there are a few about ) .

The average age in those clubs was well beyond age of military service and if you forced them all run one mile above half the members would need an ambulance LOL ! I am mid fifties and i could run a mile but i would need a fair recovery time before i could take a truly accurate shot , very different when in my teens and twenties . Lets hope it doesn't come to that eh ? All said and done forget the big talk Putin is currently loosing ground in Ukraine and has been busy knocking off those that disagree with him militarily and his senior military seem terrified of speaking out about his over ambitious / rushed and ill-thought through plans
Click to expand...

I’m a fully paid up member of the zimmer frame rangers 😂

That said

Trouble is coming

Civilian training does make sense

Waving a rainbow flag and chanting environmental slogans might not be sufficient if poo and fan come together
 
Only very few get killed by small arm bullets in wars nowdays. The new modern soldier is the shooting game specialist training in front of screens with drones. The kind of people who in old times were not seen as fit for fight at all and ended up cleaning archives in the cellars. Rifles are for macho types.
 
Heym SR20 said:
Quite a few at Bisley, and then dotted around the country.
Click to expand...
Not directed at you, but in Finland several ranges / lanes in close proximity but run by single entity would count as one range. It might be called "shooting center" and large ones might contain like 30 separate ranges / lanes for different disciplines.
 
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