Although Canadians are friendly people, we also have quite a problem with SOME US visitors, who insist on bringing their guns, and especially, hand guns, into Canada.
The Canadian Border Services Agency is responsible for inspecting every vehicle that attempts to enter Canada, as well as the people in the vehicle. One of the warning signs , that will result in increased scrutiny at the border, are visible emblems, such as NRA and USMC decals.
Past experience has shown that it is more likely that CBSA will find undeclared firearms in vehicles that have such identifiers on them.
Across Canada, at ports of entry, CBSA officers find and seize undeclared firearms, on a DAILY basis. In a calendar year, that amounts to hundreds of weapons, of all types, that have not been declared by US visitors to Canada. In some cases, that results in a jail sentence in a Canadian prison. At the least, the weapons are seized and the person who had them is banned from Canada for 10 years.
Canada and the USA share a common information data base, that both sides can look at, while interviewing a incoming vehicle, and the passengers in it. If you have been convicted of a US felony, or have outstanding local, State or Federal warrants out for you, it will be in the data base. The same for firearms registrations, and past entries to Canada. The exact same rules apply to both Americans, and Canadians, when it comes to entering the other country.
Rifles and shotguns can be legally imported in to Canada, by US visitors, but there is a proper procedure to follow, and it requires a application form, and a inspection and identification of the serial numbers, and the payment of a fee, at the port of entry, to the CBSA officer, who reviews the application. This is the law in Canada.
Link to a news report, from British Columbia, where a Florida man was arrested by CBSA, at the Coutts port of entry, with 45 hidden hand guns in his vehicle, on route to Alaska. He also had hundreds of rounds of hand gun ammunition, as well .
http://beaconnews.ca/blog/2012/02/cbsa-gun-seizure-at-coutts/
A 74 year old California man was found to be smuggling hand guns into Canada, while supposedly on a 'fishing trip ". He was arrested by CBSA at the Fort Erie, Ontario, port of entry, across the Niagara river, from Buffalo New York .
http://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/media/prosecutions-poursuites/sor/2012-05-25-eng.html
Just a few of the dozens of news stories about this topic, from Canadian news sources.
Jim B
Toronto.
