High price for taking an undeclared handgun to Canada

Used to hunt annually in Canada with shot gun, but tired of paying the fee for transporting into Canada. No longer go to Canada or New York either. I believe they will not miss me, and I do not miss the experience, so all is well.

Is it a pattern that each country's southern neighbor ignores their laws?

I have a big problem with that article.......it says the man is "elderly" and then says he's 66!!! WHAT????? NO!!!.....btw...Today is my birthday,...I'm 66. :) shouldn't have read it.

As for the article.....sorry it cost them so much, but the law in Canada is THE law......

Stuff like this seems to happen way to often. A few years back, Capt Fred of the Valdez tour boat Lula Belle ran afoul of Canadian law and for awhile the newspapers reported he might lose his captains license over the matter. He and his wife are boat full timers , summers in Valdez working their boat and winters living on the boat in Washington. On the spring trip back to Alaska, he had put in to several Canadian ports for fuel, as he normally did. But in Prince William Sound, a couple of days out of Valdez, he dozed off at the wheel and the autopilot ran them aground, doing serious damage to the boat. He had to call the US Coast Guard for rescue, and in that process they did a standard inventory of the boat. They found his undeclared handgun and ammo on the boat. Canadian authorities were notified and he was charged with the crime. I suspect he ended up with a financial cost higher than the folks in the news article, with the lose of one tourist season, hiring Canadain legal representation, making trips back and forth to Canada for court appearances. Plus on top of that the US Coast Guard was looking into revoking his captains license, so he had to hire a US attorney as well. In the end, he paid a large fine, his boat was not impounded, and he kept his captains license to run his commercial tours. I called him several months later to see if he was going to be touring the following summer or not. For those that haven't met Captain Fred or his wife, just the nicest people you could imagine.

They had been making the round trip from Washington to Alaska by boat for the last decade or so but this one summer, according to him, he forgot he had the handgun on board the boat in Washington.

On our last crossing of the border into Canada, I was asked if I had a firearm on board. When told, no, they then asked how long it had been since I had a firearm in the RV, our truck camper. Told them I had purchased the camper used about six months before but I couldn't remember ever having a firearm in there, but I couldn't speak for the previous owner. When the gun and drug sniffing dog jumped inside, he checked us out and told his handler we were being honest, no guns.

With my past crossings with guns, and some of my work history, where handguns were one of the tools we carried, firearms are all they ever want to talk to me about. I don't even worry about food or booze on board, as I seldom get questioned on those subject. LOL if you own a handgun, there is a strong possibility, it is already on your data sheet in the computers of both countries, as they do share information.

Oh well, that's what happens when U.S. citizens disrespect Canada's or any other foreign country's laws. What will it take to learn that Canada takes their laws seriously?

Being from Alaska, they should have know better. Was it their first time carrying a hand gun into Canada, or was it the first time they were caught?

Wow, that is pretty stiff.
But, it is Canada and it is their law. Like it or not. :(

That's unfortunate and expensive. I think they got off easier than they would have if it had been New York. I hope their dog is OK.