Thousands of Polish men and woman are taking up arms over fears of a possible Russian attack, with shooting ranges experiencing a boom in business.
Julia Paszek, a 33-year-old insurance analyst, is one of hundreds of men and women who are buying weapons and taking shooting lessons, seeing themselves as a “frontline state” and preparing for a worst-case scenario.
Over a quarter of a million people in Poland now have a firearm license, with last year seeing an increase of 37,000 over 2021. Consequently, shooting ranges have also reported a surge in business as unprecedented numbers flock to clubs to sharpen their marksmanship skills.
Piotr Mioduchowski, the owner of PM Shooters in Warsaw, has revealed that before the war in Ukraine started, the club received around 35 inquiries a day from people wanting to reserve slots for shooting, but now it receives over 200 inquiries.
The demand for shooting lessons is so high that shooting ranges and gun shops now regularly run out of ammunition. Poles are worried that Russia will come to Poland through Ukraine, so a lot of people are interested in getting a gun license or just want to learn the basics of how to fire a weapon.
Part of that 40 million who are ready to stand up to defend their homeland, state-owned companies have also started offering defense training to their staff.
Close to 5,000 employees of the oil and gas company PGNiG are to be given training to improve defense and crisis-management abilities, including cybersecurity and first-aid classes.
Staff can also volunteer for gun handling and shooting courses. In addition, Poland’s territorial defense forces have reported a sevenfold increase in recruits.
In response to the demand and to increase gun awareness, shooting instructor Paulina Ptaszyńska is now planning to give lessons in schools.
Proposing semester-long classes, she believes that sports shooting is very good for children, as shooting is not just the ability to make a shot, but to deal with our psyche.
In January this year, Poland’s defense minister Mariusz Błaszczak said that close to 14,000 new recruits signed up in 2022, the highest number since the end of compulsory military service in 2008.
»Thousands of Polish men and women are taking up arms as Russian plans to attack Poland«
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