r/canadaguns • u/Hot-Layer-7624 • Mar 27 '26
News / Politics / Activism CCFR Vs NFA
I’ve spoken to reps of both organizations and I still don’t understand what the difference is in their objectives and philosophy. Why do they hate each other so much? What led to the split? I understand how the CSSA is different but the NFA and CCFR are both lobby groups that can’t define each other except in opposition to themselves.
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u/LordRevan1996 Mar 27 '26
I wrote a paper talking about this a bit years ago. It was about comparing the American and Canadian gun lobby in 2020. I don’t remember a lot but I remember the basics.
The basic gist is that the NFA is more akin to the NRA in the U.S, using more American style of rhetoric. The CCFR is/was more moderate in their rhetoric and seemed to present arguments more in line with the nature of Canadian politics. Not saying this is/was good or not, just what I observed in 2020.
The true split though came from the NFA suing the CCFR claiming that the CCFR’s logo was too similar to the NFA’s logo.
If others have or remember more, please add.
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u/JurboVolvo Mar 28 '26
That’s what I see as well though it does seems the CCFR is starting to turn more into NRA style. Which is worse for all of us in my opinion.
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Mar 28 '26 edited May 06 '26
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u/JurboVolvo Mar 28 '26
The racism, the culture war, dog whistles. Making posts about crime on the instagram and pointing out the suspects race, ethnicity or religion. It’s just chum in the water for hard right wingers.
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Mar 28 '26 edited May 06 '26
[deleted]
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u/JurboVolvo Mar 28 '26
I feel like the biggest issue here is actually American gun culture which we shouldn’t be basing our laws off. Even the most conservative Canadians are pretty normal compared to right wing Americans. The fact that we haven’t been able to separate out firearms discussions from the issues in the US is super annoying considering that isn’t our country.
Like how the fuck can the Liberals basically run on ALL Canadian firearms owners are pro school shootings and mass killings and the lobby just completely fails to oppose how fucking stupid that is.
Canadians who own guns aren’t bad people or bad citizens but they are being painted as exactly that.
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u/LordRevan1996 Mar 28 '26
Doesn’t help that a few Canadian gun owners genuinely use American political arguments. I know a few maple maga people and want us to be like America or be the 51st state. Id say I’m still conservative, but damn I can still think for myself and not parrot talking points all day.
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u/JurboVolvo Mar 28 '26
I find it funny they call themselves nationalists and then literally push to become another country. Like fucking nationalist for who? 😂
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u/LordRevan1996 Mar 28 '26
Exactly. The justification I always hear is that Canada has fallen and it’s a lost cause. I’d like to say well you’re the one helping make it a lost cause buddy lol also talked to a guy who said he hoped Canada would lose to the U.S. in the gold medal game cause he thought it’d hurt national unity.
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u/LordRevan1996 Mar 28 '26
And when you actually explain how dumb the bans are to the more left leaning non-gun owners without the dog whistles and such, they tend to agree. One guy I know was surprised that ARs and such aren’t actual assault weapons when I sat down and explained it. But some gun owners and lobbyists aren’t doing us any favours by wading in the culture war nonsense.
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u/JazzlikeSort Mar 28 '26
Just like how the People's Front of Judea dislike the Judean People's Front. I think we should have a meeting about this.
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u/Cre_AK47 Name Prohibited by OIC Mar 27 '26
Basically, CCFR was created when Rod and Tracey branched off from the NFA as they had a different vision when it came to firearm advocacy.
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u/FedInformant Mar 28 '26
I think the CCFRA does a better job at reaching audiences. Im disappointed that neither of them have figured out how to get a legal, mass protest happening.
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u/Drasselll Mar 28 '26
You mean, besides the 4000-something people protests they managed to pull off over the years?
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u/FedInformant Mar 28 '26
I mean a big one for this confiscation program.
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u/Drasselll Mar 28 '26
I think it would be more efficient to organize multiple rallies at multiple strategic places at once. The main problem of rallies is that people who are too far away tend to not come. That's the soft limit to their sizes, along with general hope and motivation of gun owners.
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u/FedInformant Mar 28 '26
Yea i agree. A nation wide protest. A couple big ones in every province on the same day
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u/Status_Ticket5044 Mar 28 '26
Watch "Life of Brian". The Peoples' Liberation Front of Judea vs. The Judean Peoples' Liberation Front....
Jesus.
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Mar 28 '26
Support both.
I find the CCFR is better at outreach but I don't agree with several of their positions (ex. the grandfathering fiasco not long ago), whereas I feel the NFA supports actual strong firearms ownership in Canada.
The NFA had big issues up until a few years ago but they've cleaned up a lot.
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u/Emergency_Baker_106 Apr 07 '26
Yea but the NFA doesn't actually do anything. Never see them on the news. Youtube account is 15k compared to CCFR 105k. They can post strong positions on their websites and throw out a video every month or two, but they arent actually doing anything to help like taking the govt to court and challenging anything.
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u/ThrowRA_That_Owl_25 Mar 27 '26
Posted by a 5 day account. Single post. 🙄
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u/Hot-Layer-7624 Mar 27 '26
Yeah this is a new account, I don’t see how that’s relevant to this post, it isn’t anything someone would make a throwaway for
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u/CalibreMag Mar 27 '26
In ancient times, Rod ran for a director's position with the NFA.
Regarding what happened afterward, I wasn't paying close attention, but I recall a problem was raised about how the NFA conducted the election. It seemed as if there was a conscious effort to prevent Rod's election; something about quorum and meeting dates or something. I'm sure there are still threads on CGN about it.
Anyway, it created a big hullabaloo, which, when combined with a couple of other controversial issues the NFA was dealing with at the time, provided the catalyst for a splinter group of NFA members who felt wronged by how the election was handled to create their own new group: The CCFR. Rod was appointed president. I remember having lunch with him in New West, where he brought up that he'd been approached to run this new group. It feels like forever ago.
So, the genesis of the CCFR sorta came with some inherent acrimony with the NFA, and then the NFA (again, IIRC) brought a lawsuit over similarities between the CCFR logo and the "No Compromise" logo it used, which only served to increase friction. I always thought that was silly because they don't look really all that similar.
But all this is pretty ancient history at this point. The people who largely contributed to the controversy are long gone from the scene, and, to my knowledge, there is no hatred between the NFA and CCFR. They have broadly the same goals and similar philosophies, and perhaps differ most in their approach to achieving those goals. Which is good. We need a diversity of effort.
Footnote: Every org has at least a few people at the director or staff level who consider other orgs to be competitors. Not necessarily for membership bucks, though that's definitely a factor; more so in a "we can do it better" way. This is usually where the friction is found, but there's nothing to be done about it; it's simply human nature. The people who end up in highly visible, highly public positions advocating on controversial issues are often Type A, because it takes a lot of confidence to survive in that arena, and those sorts of folks tend to lean towards competition rather than collaboration. Furthermore, being a gun advocate in this country means generally always being on the defensive, which can lead to gun advocates becoming a bit defensive. Just is what it is. Nature of the beast.