Posted on 02/27/2024 6:59:07 PM PST by Chad C. Mulligan
There are currently around 600 ranges in Finland, compared with 2,000 at the turn of the 21st century. Consider the trend. It means 1,400 shooting ranges were closed and or destroyed in the last 25 years. It coincides well with the fall of the Soviet Union, and the belief Finland no longer had to worry about invasion.
The hard lessons of the Winter War of 1939 - 1940 were minimized. Although completely outmatched by Soviet manpower and material, Finns fought the Soviet behemoth and kept their independence. They are said to have caused 300 thousand Soviet casualties while suffering only 68 thousand casualties. Over 125,000 Soviets were killed, and about 25,000 Finns. They ended up ceding 11% of their territory, but they survived as a country.
Every Finnish school child knows the history of Simo Häyhä "the White Death". He was one of the most successful snipers in history, killing 500 Soviet soldiers in three months of winter. The Finnish military expects a great many of its 900,000 reservists to be able to accomplish many of the same feats as Simo Häyh.
The Finnish government's hostile attitude toward maintaining the country's shooting ranges died with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Finns, Swedes, Czechs, Poles, Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians, no longer believed they could rely on economic ties with the Russian Federation to prevent the same Russian bellicosity and aggressive, expansionist policies they saw in WWII.
(Excerpt) Read more at gunwatch.blogspot.com ...
The Finns know.
Invading Finland has not generally gone very well for Russia. And despite its erratic leadership, Russia is not in a very strong place.
Russia doesn’t play well on the road.
Having the shooting ranges is a good idea in principle, but if they don’t have a Russian minority they are severely mistreating they are deluding themselves about any real risks from the east.
All Russia has to do is have Muslim illegal aliens walk into Finland—a few at a time.
In a decade the invasion will be over.
The Finns closed 1,400 rifle ranges out of 2,000 that were operating in the year 2000....The Finnish military expects a great many of its 900,000 reservists to be able to accomplish many of the same feats as Simo Häyh.
Seems like a big disconnect there!
In a small country with a relatively homogenous population they can turn it around quickly. There is a core gun culture in Finland, google “Finnish Brutality” for their hard core three gun and action matches.
You and the Fins really want a hot war with Russia, don’t you?
Finland 5.5 million and thinks it can put together a 900,000 man army?
Things like that happen when a country renounces neutrality and throws in with the globohomo’s new thug, NATO. Just ask all the dead Ukes.
I want Moscow to quit invading its' neighbors.
Si vis pacem, para bellum
I’m not sure I understand your point. Nor why you are rooting for a Muslim country like Russia.
My point is that countries that don’t take their border seriously on immigration issues have no business complaining about their border for national security purposes.
It makes no sense.
You don't seem to grasp that we're more like the Soviet Union under Biden than Russia is.
That set of false talking points is completely worn out.
The Pooty tools are hopeless to try to have a rational discussion with.
Now, I will grant you that Biden and Co. are trying to use our court system to keep Trump from winning the Presidency back, and possibly imprison him & wreck his finances, since they evidently (and most likely correctly) think they can’t win the election in 2024 in a straight up political battle. That is extremely disturbing and somehow has to be dealt with, or we’ll be no better than a multitude of banana republics.
But even so, my goodness, Putin goes through no such niceties. He flat out offs his rivals, summarily imprisoning them in Siberia at the low end of the scale, and killing them by the planeload if he desires. And as much as I don’t like defending Biden, he has not sent hundreds of thousands of troops off to annex anybody, gradually smashing them to rubble in the process. Instead, Biden is the epitome of weakness, perhaps even more damaging in the end, but certainly not anything like Putin.
I think you missed the part about Finland building more ranges.
(Hint, it’s in the title.)
Lots more use at the existing ranges too, says the article.
Good for them.
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