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Blair Hagen has spent 30 years fighting Canada's firearms laws, and now, days after the National Firearms Association lost its president Rick Igercich, he is the one holding it together.
In this episode of the Silvercore Podcast, Travis Bader sits down with Hagen, executive vice president and now acting president of the NFA, for a clear-eyed look at where Canada's gun fight actually stands in 2026: the assault-style firearm confiscation, the Order in Council (OIC) bans, the handgun freeze, and the amnesty that keeps getting extended because almost no one is complying.
Hagen survived two armed robberies behind the counter of a Vancouver gun store, then was refused a permit to protect himself. He explains why firearms in Canada get banned for how they look rather than what they do, why a serious gun charge is the first thing a prosecutor drops, why the numbers behind the confiscation do not add up, and the one thing every gun owner can actually do that works.
What we get into:

Why "assault-style firearm" is a political marketing term, not a legal one
The "comply or become a criminal" trap inside the current buyback
Estates, the handgun freeze, and how a widow loses a collection's value
The NFA Save Firearms program and storing prohibited firearms legally
Whether you can still buy and transfer a handgun in Canada, and where an Authorization to Carry fits in

Whether you have owned firearms your whole life or have never touched one, this is a conversation about property, rights, and who decides what is yours.

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NFA on Facebook: https://facebook.com/NFACANADA

NFA on X: https://x.com/CanadasNFA

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Timestamps:

00:00 Cold open
00:46 Remembering NFA president Rick Igercich
02:28 How Blair got into the fight: the registry and David Tomlinson
08:38 Canada's gun culture, and a global audience listening
12:49 Two armed robberies behind the counter
17:00 Denied a carry permit in a store full of guns
20:19 "What can I do?" and the early '90s political wasteland
26:00 Property rights and the slippery slope
30:35 The amnesty extension and the courtroom no-win
34:32 Why gun charges get dropped first, and "assault-style" spin
40:49 Estates, the widow problem, and the caliber ban
48:24 "We do not make mistakes": the inheritance test case
50:44 Magazines, deactivation, and rules you can't comply with
57:03 OIC chaos and the meaningless word "variant"
1:03:15 Aesthetics over ballistics: why guns really get banned
1:09:41 Talking guns with someone who fears them
1:13:22 The handgun freeze and the Save Firearms program
1:22:00 The toll of 30 years on the line
1:24:45 Cooking the numbers: only 4,000 Mini-14s?
1:29:00 The quiet plan to put gun stores out of business
1:33:31 The Conservative Outdoors Committee and revolving-door courts
1:37:57 Which org to support, and what you can actually do
1:45:08 Closing, and Blair's goodbye to Rick