The Minister of Sport and Tourism, Kamil Bortniczuk, has announced a “Programme for the Promotion of Shooting Skills.” The resort will subsidise PLN 5 million this year and intends to train more than eight thousand people.
The Ministry is responding to the increased interest in shooting sports in Poland since Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. Resort intends to extend this to a larger number of players who practice this sport, while at the same time not concealing the fact that it is a pro-defensive motivation.
“Each participant fires more than 350 shots. This programme is more practical than the minimum requirements laid down by the Polish Sport Shooting Federation. This enables the participants to obtain the required permissions for this discipline. Next year, we want to reach an even larger group of Poles,” said Minister Bortniczuk during a press conference held at the FSO shooting range in the capital.
The programme requires each participant to complete a 12-hour training course. One hour is dedicated to theory, including first aid. The rest of the time will be devoted to the practical part, i.e., the operation and firing of air weapons, and later small-calibre weapons, short- and long-arms.
The beneficiaries of the programme will be sports clubs from all over the country, which will apply for recruitment and then undertake the training themselves. There are two different training paths. The first group consists of pupils and students aged 18 to 26, the second group consists of older people. There are about 370 shooting ranges in Poland. Closer cooperation with the Ministry of National Defence is planned.
The Minister acknowledged that the current provisions of the Weapons and Cartridges Act were too restrictive.
“As a member of the Republican Party, I would like to remind you that we have tabled a package of amendments to this law. We believe that any civil servant, who has access to arms within the scope of his official duties, will also receive an automatic licence to carry arms outside his working hours. We project easier access to weapons for our citizens if certain conditions are met, such as health status,” Bortniczuk concluded.