It’s working; Trudeau targets CCFR in fundraising e-mail

The Liberal government sent out a desperate mass fundraising e-mail to Canadians this weekend,

stating that The Tories are “taking orders from Canada’s NRA”.

With the introduction of Bill C-71 on the heels of a Summit on Gun & Gang Violence, gun owners across the country have reacted in a massive wave of disapproval, calling, writing letters and signing a parliamentary E-petition that has almost 60 000 signatures at the time of this post. This outcry by bewildered gun owners should have been expected, considering Bill C-71 has literally NO measures to combat crime or the rising gang problem addressed at the Minister’s own Summit.

As a result the e-mail below was distributed to their mailing list:

The e-mail claims that “just as Stephen Harper did”, that Conservatives are attempting to “weaken Canada’s gun laws” and are taking orders from “Canada’s NRA”, which is ridiculous considering the NRA is prohibited from working in Canada according to their constitution. This fallacy was accompanied by a photo of Justin Trudeau, meant to look very stately and poised, pleading for funds to stop the NRA invasion by “fighting back” and, of course, chipping in 😉

It gets even better …

A CCFR member, Robert Anderson contacted the LPC early Saturday morning to inquire why they would make such an odd statement. The response was;

Hello Robert,

Thank you for writing. I am sorry to say that the picture does indeed tell the truth! Canada does have its own version of the NRA, known as the CCFR, and lobbyists for this and other groups are fighting to loosen gun laws and increase the threat posed to communities nationwide. We believe it is important to strengthen Canada’s common-sense gun laws. The overwhelming majority of guns used in gun crime in Canada were obtained legally, and there is evidence that points to the effectiveness of extended background checks that allow law enforcement to know if a criminal has aquired firearms. Canada trusts its police forces to keep their communities safe, and with improved background checks, we can be further assured that guns are being kept out of the hand of people who will not use them responsibly without infringing on the rights of law-abiding hunters and sportsmen who participate in lawfull shooting activities and traditions.

Thank you for writing to us about this topic, and please feel welcome to reach out with any further concerns.

All the best,

Ryan Spero
Liberal Party of Canada

The message from the LPC official was false, unprofessional and made unbelievable claims with absolutely no substance to accompany the messaging. In a bizarre statement, LPC official Ryan Spero cited the CCFR as “Canada’s NRA” and that we are “fighting to loosen laws and increase the threat posed to communities nationwide”. Mr. Spero gives no evidence that licensed gun owners pose any kind of threat to our communities. Why? Because they don’t. He continues down the same path of “alternative facts” with a comment that “the overwhelming majority of guns used in gun crime in Canada were legally obtained”. Again, there is no credible proof of this. We could go on, but you get the point here.

The Liberal government has resorted to quite literally lying to Canadians in “Chicken-Little” (the sky is falling) fundraiser e-mails to justify its complete lack of effort to work on crime. Gun owners have always been the low hanging fruit but this e-mail leaves us with a few conclusions:

1. The governing party is desperate to twist this legislation into the appearance of “doing something” while quite literally solving a problem that doesn’t exist.
2. The CCFR’s efforts have been effective enough to cause an entire fundraising initiative in response.
3. The Liberal Party is using scare tactics like implying American lobby groups or politics are influencing Canadians or American style-gun laws are imminent
4. The governing party is  implying the CCFR is a partisan Conservative organization which is completely false, considering we have participated in educational events hosted by the current government, on the Minister’s own invitation. Check out our Lobby Records to see participation by all parties.

The mandate of the CCFR is to educate all Canadians on the burdens facing gun owners, including politicians of all stripes. Our takeaway from these scare tactics is that we are being heard and your advocacy is being noticed. This demonstrates to us that we have to keep working harder.

In short, what we’re doing is working.

The current governing party is worried, as well they should be, about the blatant attack on gun owners.

Here’s what you can do to keep the pressure up:

1. JOIN the CCFR today!!!

2.Write Ralph Goodale and your MP today and let them know you don’t support C-71, we want work on crime!

3. Sign the e-petition, have your voice heard

We are making real progress, that isn’t even in question. Help us, help you.