Which groups are championing your gun rights?
Founded way back in 1978, the National Firearms Association (NFA), the product of merger between various firearms advocacy groups across the country, came into being during a time in which the Trudeau Liberals were galvanizing public support for gun control.
“At the time most firearms owners attempted to stay out of sight, which in my view was the wrong approach… The NFA was formed after a raucous meeting of perhaps some 20 members of various groups from across the country and, as humans so often do, they generally agreed to disagree -- personality clashes I attributed it to -- and I decided it was simply not going to work the way it was. Someone suggested we try to agree on an all-inclusive name and the NFA appeared to be the winner. Once that was accomplished, I registered the name and the NFA was officially recognized as the Gun Lobby," told NFA President and founder Bill Jones to TBT back in April.
Having made a name for themselves and boosting their stature by opposing the Mulroney government's harsh gun control measures in the wake of the École Polytechnique Tragedy, the pro-gun opposition, which united around the NFA and included , provincial hunting and some national shooting groups as well as MPs, succeeded in preventing Bill C-80 from becoming law.
A no-compromise position spurred the NFA on to greater heights in the 2010s, as its membership and stature continued to grow. Amid some growing pains , the NFA still branched out into the global firearms community, becoming active in the World Forum on Shooting Activities (WFSA) and forming a presence as a stand alone NGO at the UN, representing Canadian firearms owners in talks about international gun control efforts.
Since then, the NFA has remained the most stalwart activist opposing nonsensical legislation passed by the incumbent government. Examples include Bill C-21, which among other things, would allow complaint against gun owners to be grounds for your firearms to be taken from you, without being allowed a chance to defend yourself, in addition to banning certain airsoft, paintball and pellet guns.
“Despite posing the same public safety concerns, unregulated air soft guns that discharge projectiles at a velocity approximately between 366 and 500 fps and exactly resemble conventional regulated firearms, are not currently prohibited. The measures the government is proposing would address this gap by amending the Criminal Code to prohibit import, export or sale of the currently unregulated mid-velocity air soft gun firearms within Canada," noted the NFA earlier back in spring.
“If anyone still thinks that gun control is about public safety, they need look no further than Bill C-21 with its attack on BB and pellet guns, airsoft guns, and paintball markers. This is only about civil disarmament - discussion about crime control is merely marketing another bad idea from the liberals," added President Clare.
The buyback program has also been challenged by the NFA. “It’s all political theater right now and they are trying to run on the fear of Canadians," said director Jordan Vanderhoff.
"Gun control is not about the guns, it’s about control from the government... the gun is only a tool so they should not be focusing on crime guns because crime guns is not a word that we use. If they had youth programs to get these people before they started gangs, if they had proper task force for police and gave them the tools to go after these gangs… If they had stricter border controls and better ways of regulating firearms coming into Canada. There’s a lot of illegal smuggling. There’s a lot of very well know illegal smuggling areas in Canada, and the RCMP is well aware of this matter and seems to be a legging matter. It’s like a rotating door service that we have in our court system."
Even amid the continued presence of COVID, this has not stopped the NFA from attempting to get the vote out to gun owners , educating them about which legislators care about their issues.
"A significant part of that agenda is to spend nearly a billion dollars on stealing your guns. Make no mistake though: this fight must be won at the ballot box. This liberal socialist agenda has nothing to do with public safety, and everything to do with public disarmament. They're tied to anti-gun groups in other countries; our tax dollars are being used to support a form of coordinated international gun control, and this is not okay," President Clare told us back in July.
"The time to say no is now. When they see that we have no intention of surrendering our property, they will begin threatening people by making example of people with criminal prosecution. State-organized coercion is a serious matter and should not be taken lightly. They may even go to homes to seize guns, which will not go well. If allowed to progress, it will lead to a progression of resistance both active and passive, and will be a tangible demonstration of a loss of respect for law and order."
