CUFOA
Canadian Unlicensed
Firearms Owners Association
Association canadienne des propriétaires d’armes sans permis
Constitutional
Challenges
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Press Release
Canadian Unregistered Firearms Owners Association
Is Two Years Too Much to Ask ??
How do you plan to respond to the Firearms Act? The answers vary widely.
Many pistol owners say they have registered "everything" because "they already know we have firearms". Some hunters say that they have registered their deer rifle so that they "can hunt this fall". Some collectors are registering to "protect their investment". Others firearms owners plan to "wait until the last minute" and then register their firearms if "there is no other choice".
These answers sound totally cowardly.
The other answers I hear when discussing firearms registration are ,"Let them try to take my firearms !", or, "They can have them muzzle first".
These answers sound downright absurd.
There is a moderate way: civil disobedience.
We know that registration has nothing to do with promoting safety. We know that registration leads to confiscation. The Firearms Act must be repealed. Civil disobedience is the only method that can ensure that result. The absolute refusal to cooperate is the only logical response. Therefore we must refuse to register our firearms and burn our firearms licenses in peaceful acts of civil disobedience.
This suggestion gets lots of support until I mention we might spend two years in prison. If we are unsuccessful in having the Firearms Act repealed that will be the result.
But one must "count the cost" of any action before setting forth; "nothing ventured, nothing gained". Two years equals forty eight months, or one hundred eight weeks, or seven hundred thirty days - that is a long time. Is this too much to ask firearms owners to risk ?
Our grandparents faced longer periods of time away from home in World War I to protect our liberty. Thousands never returned from France. And the number of Canadians who willingly gave up their youth during World War II to protect our freedom is phenomenal. Many spent more than two years locked in a P.O.W. camp.
Can we expect to do less ?
Two years may be a long time to spend confined in a prison. But the other choices are not acceptable. We either defend our freedom or we lose it.
If enough people are willing to protect our rights we will win. If not, we will spend two years in prison. But at least we will have tried.
We must be willing to make the attempt.
Edward B. Hudson
Saskatoon
