What Is The Citizen’s Field Network?

This is a work of fiction.

It is several things:

• First, it is a collection of areas of public land (BLM and National Forest, mostly) where variously target shooting or hunting are legal, areas of private land which landowners have variously opened to target shooting, martial training or rucking, airsoft, paintball, or hunting, and undeveloped/wilderness ranges available for hike-in or drive-in use.
• Second, it is a nationwide open-source database and GIS system (maintained by Taichi Arakawa Training) that lists the location, owner or legal authority, accessibility, permitted activities, features, rules, and any required fees, agreements, or reservations for all the above areas.
• Third, it is a community focused around these public assets and their use, stewardship, and upkeep.
• Fourth, it is a nonprofit which encourages landowners to allow the use of their land, handles fees, insurance and legal issues, develops model safety and conduct rules, and owns some elements of Citizen’s Field Network land itself.
• Fifth, it provides a certificate and reputation system — the CFN Prudence Chit — to credential responsible users and weed out incompetents, criminals, and silly gooses.
• Sixth, CFN operates a fund to provide for legal defense of everyone involved in case of litigation.

What is the Citizen’s Field Network not?

• It is not a government organization, nor is it associated with one.
• It is not a firearms training company, a shooting range operator, or a hunting outfitter.
• It is not a private militia.
• It does not tolerate criminal activity or violent extremism.

What can I do with the Citizen’s Field Network lands?

All of the land in the Citizen’s Field Network is in the form of wilderness or austere facilities, and is available, on a self-directed or casual basis and with at-your-own-risk policy, and either for free or for a fairly low fee, for one or more of the following:

• Hunting
• Recreational or target shooting.
• Milsim, paintball, airsoft, militaristic LARPing (Live Action Role-Playing).
• Martial training, rucks or hikes with military equipment.
• Testing or experimentation with firearms, munitions, tactical equipment, etc.
• Some similar pursuits that may be loud, explosive, fiery, etc or require access to a very large outdoor space such as amateur rocketry and high-performance drones or model aircraft
• More conventional outdoor pursuits such as overland 4×4 driving, hiking, camping, horseback riding, etc — as well as those with twists that may be awkward or disfavored in mainstream parks, such as hiking or 4x4ing at night with night vision.

Additionally, all CFN listed lands, even those not part of the CFN system, allow the mere possession of legally-owned firearms.

Unless the policy listing for a CFN parcel or area states otherwise, you should assume that CFN lands are only available for non-commercial use, and that when commerical use is allowed, it requires an additional fee. A number of private CFN lands are available for low intensity use for Youtube and similar video production with certain qualifications — see the Citizen’s Field Network Youtubers Program. Additionally, a large number of CFN lands are available for community-based classes with certain qualifications.

At the low end, CFN lands often provide an option for practicing target shooting in a rural environment rather than a crowded range (and as of early 2038, every point within the lower 48 states is within 300 miles of a CFN listed land where shooting at a range of at least 500m is possible). At the high end, an example of the capabilities of CFN lands are given by the New West Society’s Recon Challenge, which combines a 20-mile hike with five to twelve match stages spaced along the length, and which has used seven different routes over the course of its existence.

The CFN is dedicated to the rights of the common citizen and does not support or condone the restriction of any class or asset to law enforcement or military personnel only. The CFN terms of service forbid the use of CFN lands in a CFN capacity for purposes that are prejudicial to certain citizens or which are restricted to favored groups of the government.

What Are Some CFN facilities of particular interest?

• CFN has made a particular strategic effort to get access to and qualify minimal outdoor tactical ranges and minimal training grounds in Eastern states and areas where there is no good access to public (BLM or NF) land. Please see our Minimal Training Facilities Roadmap. At the current time, every point in the lower 48 states has places (either public or private) that qualify as both a Minimal Tactical Range and a Long Static Range within 375 miles and which are collectively open for at least 80 days of the year.
• CFN has qualified a Minimal Patrol Range in each of the Pacific, Western, Central, Southern, and Eastern regions of the USA. (please see our Facility Grade Definitions).
• CFN has developed a significant amount of land available to hunters in regions of the USA where public land is limited, mostly in Texas and the Eastern USA.
• CFN has two urban training areas which allow for simunition, laser/MILES, airsoft, and some limited live-fire practice around buildings and built-up areas.

What Does The CFN Community Expect Of Its Users?

• The CFN expects all users to act with integrity, prudence, duty, and cordiality towards each other, towards CFN land owners, and towards the nation.
• The CFN expects all users to take responsibility for their actions and for the stewardship of CFN assets.
• The CFN expects all users to respect the spirit and the letter of CFN impact distribution rules and algorithms so that all members have a fair chance to make use of limited facilities.
• The CFN expects its users to act with cooperation towards the coexistence of different people in the American project and to support the First and Second Amendment rights as the common heritage of Americans and of free people.
• The CFN expects its users to avoid unduly provocative or aggressive messaging or the appearance of criminal conspiracy, as is neccessary and appropriate when deadly weapons and martial skills are involved.
• The CFN requests that its users and members address disputes with grace, respect, and cooperation, and not bring negative attention upon the CFN or the Second Amendment community at large.

How Can I Get Started With The CFN?

• You can look on our public list for a #Public and #Community tagged match, ruck, practice day, or exercise; these are open to the public and have a CFN coordinator present.
• Apply for your CFN Prudence Chit. Your first three marks on the Prudence Chit can be satisfied in a large number of ways, both in and out of the CFN. Note that external applications to the CFN are subject to rate limiting and social sanctioning.
• Attend a CFN open house.
• Get your CFN Prudence Chit through a local rifle and pistol club or sport shooting society.
• Get qualified for the CFN through a CFN member community security society or community training cooperative.
• Work at a CFN Range Cleanup.

We look forward to training with you!