The Polish Ministry of Defense has announced that they will to co-finance the renovation of existing Shooting Ranges, and the building of new ones.

The aim seems to be to increase the organized shooting trainings for young people as well as members of pro-defense organizations and soldiers of the Armed Forces.

Quoted from the announcement: “The strategic goal of the project is to rebuild shooting skills.”

The focus will be on shooting ranges with a length of 100 and 200 meters.

The 100 meter ranges can get up to 215 000 USD in contribution, and the longer 200 meter ranges up to 320 000 USD. That seems to me like a rather substantial contribution.

News “Shooting range in the district” – the Ministry of Defense will co-finance the construction or renovation of the shooting ranges “Shooting range in the districs” The Ministry of National Defense has announced a tender for co-financing the construction or renovation of shooting ranges, which will enable the organization of organized shooting training, in particular among young people, members of pro-defense organizations, soldiers of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland. According to the assumptions, local governments that will qualify for the program will be able to obtain subsidies from the Ministry of National Defense up to 80 percent. project values. The Ministry plans to co-finance two types of shooting ranges – 100 and 200 meters (detailed criteria in the announcement). The amount of subsidy will not exceed PLN 800,000.00 for the construction of a 100m shooting range and PLN 1,200,000.00 for the construction of a 200m shooting range and PLN 400,000.00 and PLN 600,000.00 respectively for the refurbished range. Under the “Shooting range in the poviat” program, the local government unit (JST) may voluntarily carry out, with the support of the Ministry of Defense, an investment consisting in the construction of a new shooting range or revitalization of the existing facility. The conditions for applying for subsidies is to dispose of real estate by the local government and cover at least 20% of the construction or renovation costs of the shooting range. All necessary information about the competition is available in the Public Information Bulletin of the Ministry of National Defense. The deadline for sending offers by local governments is 20 February 2019. The Competition of Offers will be settled by March 22, 2019. The project is a response to the growing interest in shooting sport and security issues among Poles. The strategic goal of the project is to rebuild shooting skills.

Source: Polish Ministry of Defense

Seen in the light of the European Firearms Directive, a.k.a. the EU Gun Ban, this is good news for the shooting sports and hopefully other countries will follow.