Finland also has a very proud firearm history - particularly related to their independence, high quality firearm manufacturing history, and hunting.

I own no firearms, but I’ve gotta admit that Sako does some really good advertising to connect their firearms to everything you just mentioned. I don’t even hunt and it makes me want one.

The reasons and culture vary. Finns go hunting, Americans going to a gun range is a sport. And most of those finnish guns are probably decades old and long out of use.

And going back to Switzerland, I was at a festival a few years back which was almost cancelled due to potent protesting by several neighboring towns since the main sport-shooting range was at the same location as the festival's HQ. Thankfully the organizer was able to talk the mayor out of it. We later heard that a neighboring town was able to accommodate the sudden influx.

I've heard from friends there is a similar passion in many towns in Germany and Austria. I would venture a guess that outside many European cities shooting for sport is much more commonplace.

Schuetzen matches and anschutz are a thing in the US but come to us courtesy the Germans.

How does "schuetzen" and "anschutz" translate to English? Google Translate doesn't appear to be very helpful.

I think schuetzen or schützen is kind of generic for a shooter/marksman. I don’t know about Anschutz - I always associated with the particular rifle maker/style and the associated matches but I know it’s a surname as well.

https://blog.westernpowders.com/2017/11/schuetzen-the-purest...