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The government of Finland has plans of opening over 300 new shooting ranges to encourage citizens to learn marksmanship not only as a hobby but also for the purpose of bolstering national defense.
According to a report by The Guardian, the Finnish government plans to increase the number of shooting ranges to roughly 1,000. There are currently 670 shooting ranges in Finland.
Jukka Kopra, a National Coalition party MP and the chair of Finland’s defense committee, said the following to the Guardian: “The present government aims to increase the amount of shooting ranges in Finland from roughly 600-700 up to 1,000. This is because of our defense model, which benefits from people having and developing their shooting skills on their own.”
MPK’s executive director, Antti Lehtisalo, noted that the enthusiasm among Finnish people to defend their homeland remains strong. “We have a very high will to defend the country.”
He said that after finishing the courses, participants must hone their newly-acquired skills on shooting ranges.“One part of this training and education is of course education in shooting because people want to be part of this comprehensive security, so they’re coming to our courses and after that we need more shooting ranges,” Lehtisalo added.
Finland is on the mark here. Having an armed citizenry is the best insurance policy against criminals, rogue domestic governments, and hostile foreign actors. Such measures will also allow Finland to become more autonomous in its security affairs.
While Finland recently joined NATO, the last thing it needs to do is to double down on being dependent on another country or supranational body for its security matters. Hopefully, more countries in the Old Continent follow in Finland’s footsteps and start arming their law-abiding citizens.
