As soon as you enter the building, you can see that the shooters started building here recently – the spaces necessary for the shooters are still being prepared, and the police signs are still attached to the doors, so even the door of the commander of the countries is still marked with the inscription “Chief”. In the same office, where we are now greeting the rifle commander, the head of the police commissariat used to be located.
The inscriptions on the doors are an insignificant detail that will be corrected later, but the rooms are already divided for the shooters, so you can see white sheets of paper on the doors, on which it is simply written by hand, who will be assigned one or another room.
Major M. Milius Delphi shows “Can I come in?” first showed the administrative corps. “The headquarters are here. In the future, a tactical operations center will be set up here, in one office, where, in the event of an emergency, headquarters staff can gather, we will have maps, stands, and screens there, where all information flows and decisions are made,” said the Vilnius District Rifle Commander. There are also meeting and meeting rooms here.
The building where the shooters are now being built was previously known to Vilnius residents as the police station. Vilnius district the sniper commander emphasized that both the police and the snipers rent this building. “The building did not belong to the police, the police rented it. Just after the police moved out, we rented these rooms from private owners,” said the commander, showing the spaces where classes are already held, the auditoriums for theoretical training. It is planned to equip auditoriums for drone operators, and medical aid training will also be held.
On the first floor of the building there are also offices where police officers used to work, now they will be assigned to department commanders. “The unit commander is a public figure who leads a company or a separate unit. There are about a hundred people in the company. We often have two or three hundred people in a company, the commander explained. – Such commanders should have a place where they can come and work, there will be internet, a desk. Each company commander has a metal locker in which he can store his various things, documents and the like. Today, people keep all of this in their homes, and sometimes that space is really lacking, activities do not take place because there is a lack of facilities. Now those opportunities are significantly increased by renting these premises.”
This year, slightly more than 350 new members joined the Vilnius County Riflemen. Major M. Milius claims that the interest in the shooters’ union was visible earlier, not only in 2022.
“I would distinguish several stages. Until 2014, before the annexation of Crimea, the national team looked like this: 800 shooters, of which about 500 were youth. In 2014, the situation changed so that the national team increased from 800 to 2000, the number of young people remained approximately the same, but the number of adults and the age of adults – 30-40 years old – increased significantly. We are becoming a completely different organization, – says the commander. – Then that growth was consistent, after 400 shooters, the entire national team increased. They were deleted, accepted, but the acceptance was about 400. In February 2022, the situation changed and during 2022 the national team increased by one and a half thousand.”
In 2023, new members were slightly less, but still more than in the previous, quiet years. Today, the 10th national team of the Lithuanian Rifle Association of Karalias Mindaugas (Vilnius district) consists of a little more than 4,000 shooters, and it is the largest national team.
Continuing the walk around the headquarters of the shooters, the commander also showed the basement, where the police used to house the temporary detention cells, as well as the interrogation and identification rooms. Some spaces will be used for weapons storage, and the identification room will remain just a warehouse, although it is equipped with glass, through which the person on one side cannot see the person on the other side.
There are also boxes with weapons, but Maj. M. Milius immediately warns that these are not real weapons. “There are fake guns called airsoft guns. We use them for exercises,” the commander said. He allowed one of them to be taken in his hands and Delphi to the journalist, however, he told that the shooters begin their training by familiarizing themselves with real weapons.
The shooters intend to install weapons in the former temporary detention cells. “Shooters can purchase a weapon themselves. In order to purchase a weapon, one must complete the basic marksmanship skills course and pass the gunner’s service exam,” the commander explained, adding that shooters with personal weapons can also use them in training.
“The Union of Riflemen as an organization also has weapons,” said Maj. M. Milius also mentioned that they recently added one and a half thousand automatic rifles to their arsenal, which will be distributed to the shooters. – These will be weapons at the disposal of the shooters’ union, which are given to those shooters who participate in the exercise but do not have their own weapon.
To become a shooter, you need to fill out a registration form and wait for a call. It is true that there are several conditions for joining: a shooter cannot become a person who has participated in activities against the state of Lithuania, if the person is a member of prohibited organizations according to the law, has been convicted of intentional crimes, has been removed from the position of a state politician or dismissed from actual war within the last five years services, as well as if they have been expelled from the Lithuanian Rifle Association for gross disciplinary offenses within the last 10 years.
You can become a young shooter from the age of 11, and join adults from the age of 18. There is no age limit for shooters.
And how much does it cost to become a shooter? “Sometimes I have to hear that being a shooter is expensive, there is even a saying – nobles’ army,” M. Milius said. – This is a kind of myth, anyone can become a shooter and basically it is not required for him to purchase that uniform, because there are activities where you can participate without a uniform. It is not necessary to purchase a weapon. In addition to purchasing the uniform yourself, purchasing a weapon opens up more opportunities.”
M. Milius said that the union itself purchases some uniforms, ammunition or weapons, which it can distribute to those shooters who do not have them and participate in exercises. “We cannot supply everyone, so most countries buy everything from their own funds,” said the commander.
When asked how much it costs to purchase a gunner’s uniform, the commander said it depends on many things. “There is a uniform that costs 50 euros, there are uniforms made of better material, more functional, they can cost 300-400 euros without a jacket, another 150 euros with a jacket. Shoes, they can cost 30 euros, they can cost 150 euros. Everyone according to their wishes and capabilities, – the commander calculated the price of the uniform. – A weapon is on average 1500 euros, so basic, if it is a long gun, a pistol – 500-600 euros, cartridges additionally, about 50 cents per cartridge, a helmet about, I’m afraid to lie, but it will also be a few hundred euros, a bulletproof vest is another 150 euros, if you will also buy optics, such as scopes, binoculars, thermal imagers – each item costs a few hundred euros. There are shooters who spend tens of thousands, there are shooters who perfectly participate in our activities without spending anything.”
In addition to a uniform, weapons or ammunition, every adult member of the union must pay an entry fee of 5 euros, and then pay a membership fee of 12 euros every year. Those who do not pay the membership fee are removed from the lists.
But the most important thing in order to join shooters is the desire. “First of all, you should answer yourself what the rifle union is, how it can be useful to me and how I can be useful to it,” M. Milius said.
The commander of the squad showed more rooms – the residential building, the planned space for the shooting range, the dining room and even more spaces that will be adapted for the needs of the shooters in the near future. Starting in March, the shooters, who have been developing in the new headquarters, plan to implement the most important things in a few months.
Take a walk in the new headquarters of the Lithuanian Rifle Association Karalias Mindaugas 10th national team together with the Delphi show “Can I come?”:
