Retired U.S. military man fined, slapped....

I don't get what his being a "retired military man" has to do with anything. The Judge even commented on his unblemished record and was almost apologetic about imposing what to me sounds like a perfectly appropriate penalty, assuming Canada expects people to take its laws seriously. The offender's lucky he didn't go before some Judge that might have taken the opposite view, perhaps perceiving that someone who achieved officer's rank during 24 years in the military ought to know better than anyone how important it is to abide by such rules.

And if anyone's interested in how bad things could have been in this case, take a gander at Fred Rodolf's story from 2011.
A 72 year old sailboat captain that also "forgot" he had guns aboard when he docked in Canada finds himself charged with enough crimes to land him in JAIL for three years!