Tony Bernardo is the Executive Director of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association. CSSA members agree on three things:Licensed firearms owners are heavily vetted by government and the RCMP;Licensed firearms owners are statistically safer than serving police officers;Most crime committed with firearms is the result of illegal guns smuggled across the border and then used by drug dealers, gangs and organized crime.What you demand from government:Real, effective border enforcement and interdiction of smuggling routes.Policing and intelligence efforts focused on criminal networks, not licensed gun owners.Consistent, tougher sentences for violent offenders.Evidence-based policy with measurable public safety outcomes, not public safety theatre that pushes a political agenda.None of these exist under Mark Carney’s Liberal government, nor did it under Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government before it. Members frame the firearms confiscation compensation scheme and the handgun freeze as high-cost, low-yield.The dominant critique?The entire program is political theatre that diverts police resources and public money from far more urgent needs, such as healthcare capacity, mental health services, and frontline law enforcement.Members repeatedly connect Ottawa’s approach to a net loss in public safety capacity:Confiscation logistics consume RCMP and other police forces’ bandwidth.Firearms bans and “handgun freezes” limit training opportunities for legitimate firearms users, while criminals remain completely unaffected.The Nova Scotia tragedy is cited first as a massive failure of the RCMP and second, as a failure to prevent illegal guns from being smuggled into Canada. It should never be the rationale to penalize lawful firearms owners and confiscate their property. A strong current of procedural justice runs through member emails:Members want transparent rules, realistic timelines, and guaranteed, fair compensation — or a repeal of the entire firearms confiscation scheme.Carney’s “voluntary” participation in a confiscation scheme that becomes criminal at the deadline is not a voluntary program.Vague or contested valuations for surrendered property raise expropriation concerns.Deactivation capacity constraints (there aren’t many approved gunsmiths who can deactivate firearms) create amnesty-timing risks beyond licensed gun owners’ control. The mood is hotter than a year ago. Four distinct camps emerge from our analysis of member emails:Law-and-Order Pragmatists — Want the firearms confiscation program repealed and replaced with concrete border & crime control measures; they prioritize civility and persuasion.Fiscal Hawks — Lead with waste narrative, stating the entire firearms confiscation program, like the failed long gun registry before it, is a total waste of taxpayer dollars; they prefer money be spent on healthcare and policing initiatives that have a measurable public safety benefit.Civil-Liberties Guardians — Alarmed by the precedent being set: ban legally-owned firearms → confiscate legally-owned firearms → criminalize licensed firearms owners. They push for due process, evidence-based policy, and defence of our civil rights.Defiance Faction – Fed up with surveys and hedging; open talk of refusal to comply; increasing appetite for mass protest.Note: The pragmatist + fiscal + civil-liberties blocs are numerically larger; the defiance bloc is smaller but loud, and it’s pulling fence-sitters toward firmer resistance.Trust in the governing Liberals is effectively exhausted. Members view current firearm policy as punitive and agenda-driven, not as policy that will positively affect public safety.The CSSA community is politically unified in opposition to the current federal approach and consolidating behind an evidence-based, enforcement-first alternative. The centre of gravity is moving from frustration to mobilization.Anger is understandable, but persuasion wins policy.Canadians outside our community need to see calm competence, compassion for victims of violence, and a credible plan to reduce crime.That’s how we build the super-majority necessary to end “public safety theatre” of gun bans and confiscations.Politically, our community is firmly opposed to the current federal firearms program and is platforms, primarily from the Conservative Party.Strategically, members want evidence-based public safety policies, fiscal responsibility, and respect for lawful owners.The energy has shifted from frustration to mobilization.Now let’s turn that energy into policy change through massive political action in the next federal election.
