Finland, Which Borders Russia, Will Construct 300 Additional Shooting Ranges as Interest in Defense Grows

(PatriotPostNews.com) – A new report indicates that Russia’s neighbor, Finland, is planning to set up hundreds more shooting ranges to accommodate a growing demand.

On February 20, a report from Yle, a Finnish broadcasting network, revealed that the nation was prompted to increase the number of shooting ranges when the public expressed a growing desire to take defense initiatives amid the ongoing war in Ukraine.

Finland shares a border of 830 miles with Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and has been engaged in an armed conflict for the past two years.

The Yle report explained how a growing number of Finns have taken an interest in their country’s defense plans. Many have taken part in defense training events—which have at least doubled since the start of the war—and submitted applications for gun licenses.

However, preexisting gun ranges are not used by just members of the public. Hunters and police personnel frequently use the facilities, leading to an overflow and the need for more ranges with the increased demand among the public.

Currently, there are around 670 gun ranges in Finland that are available for civilian use. This number is significantly less than the number of facilities that were open prior to the start of the 21st century, which reached more than 2,000. The government of Finland is reportedly planning to increase the number of ranges to roughly 1,000 by the year 2030.

Tensions between Finland and Russia have risen over the past two years, following Finland’s acceptance into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in May 2022. The Nordic nation sought unity with the coalition due to security concerns related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The move displeased Russian leadership, which later denied accusations from Finland that it was intentionally pushing asylum seekers to Finland’s border in retribution for their alliance with the United States. Finland ended up closing all its Russian border crossings in 2023 due to the huge number of migrants.