President’s Message
- Rick Igercich
TACCOM & More
As I take to pen in my hotel room overlooking the parliament buildings in Ottawa, I have come to realize how things in Canada have drastically changed in a relatively short time. Outside my hotel window, there is a daily protest of some kind or another, just another clue, besides firearms issues, that the Trudeau Liberals have a self-centered agenda.
I spent this past weekend in Toronto at TACCOM, where I spoke to several hundred firearms owners, retailers and manufacturers from around the country. The mutual feeling is anger. People have had enough.
I am here this week, as a voice, representing Canadians at the World Forum on Shooting Activities. This is a group of representatives from around the world that lobby their respective governments on issues that affect firearms use and owner-ship, and in which the NFA is a key executive voting member. The group discuses anything from lead bans to the marking of firearm parts and ammunition. The trend over the years has been that anything which hap-pens in Europe eventually bleeds its way into Canada.
As of this writing, the Trudeau Liberals have introduced Bill C-21, which has gone through second reading. This devious bill is nothing short of another all-out attack on Canadian’s rights and freedoms. The main portion of the bill is a virtual freeze of the movement of handguns in Canada, including most imports. When and if Bill C-21 becomes law, the person who is the registered owner of a handgun becomes its last possessor. Which in turn means that firearm becomes the property of the government upon the death of that person. The Liberals have already imposed an import ban on all handguns using ministerial powers. So where does this put us as Canadian firearm owners?
When C-21 was introduced, Canadians flocked to gun shops across the country, leaving the shelves bare. With this came long delays at provincial CFOs. Compiled with parts of Bill C-71, including the long gun registry 2.0 and lifelong background checks, transfers are taking anywhere from one to nine months, depending on what province you are in. This also affected new PAL applications, as well as renewals.
Bill C-21 is a multi-faceted attack on Canadian’s property rights and includes sections on magazine restrictions, limiting long guns to five rounds. This is another example of the Trudeau Liberals taking advantage of Canadians by loading several things into one bill. I don’t know how they expect people to block tubular magazine rifles to a five-round capacity. They also want us to block our military family heirlooms, like Lee Enfield rifles, to five rounds, which I believe is nothing short of destroying our Canadian heritage.
So, the question begs to be asked, what are we going to do about this? We at the NFA will be challenging this in several areas, including legal avenues and at the federal government level, when and if C-21 becomes law.
With the unholy marriage between the Trudeau Liberals and the NDP on the rocks, and the possibility of an early election, the biggest game changer is going to be a government change. Pierre Poilievre, the new CPC leader, seems to be sticking to his platform in which he has promised the repeal of the OIC and Bill C-71, the stoppage of Bill C-21 and a complete review of the Firearms Act.
I ask my fellow Canadians to get out and vote and put a pro-firearms rights government in place.
Rick Igercich, President