Border Crossing


I am a Canadian American or American Canadian, I wasn't born in either country. I live most of the time in the states, where I own guns, vote and complain about the government. About 4 months out the year, Katie and I are at my home in Quebec, where I own guns, vote and complain about the government. I have taken serveral firearms into Canada, with a lot of paperwork and I have a PAL. Katie has a POL, which she is a native born Canadian.

When I want to do a scheduled hunting trips with a guide or a service, I never have problems taking rifles into Canada.

I know of one person that got an atitude at the border while he was in his big RV about the gun questions. He got searched, they found a vintage 1911a in his RV. He was given a choice, he could go see the judge or he could surrender that pistol and leave the country. He surrendered the 45 and left the country, ever since that day he has hated Canada. I don't know if they were giving him a hard time or were they going to take him in front of a judge, from what I know about this guy, the judge would have been the appropriate thing to do.

Jerry
 

theicemanmpls said:
This sounds like Canada eh?
Iti sounds like a typical question. The agent watches your reaction to the question.

I am wondering what the crime rate invovling firearms is in Canada? They have outlawed most if not all pistols.
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The gun crime rate in Canada is quite lower, according to a documentary I watched a couple of months ago, than the United States. One thing to consider here though is that Canada has less than half the population of the States, and less ethnic diversity than the U.S. too. Oh, yea, they also don't share a boarder with Mexico either.
 
handgonnetoter said:
The gun crime rate in Canada is quite lower, according to a documentary I watched a couple of months ago, than the United States. One thing to consider here though is that Canada has less than half the population of the States, and less ethnic diversity than the U.S. too. Oh, yea, they also don't share a boarder with Mexico either.
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I do not know what documentary you watched or who put it together, but according to the NRA, John R. Lott Jr., et.al. and the primary sources they cite; Canada has a exponentially higher crime rate per capita then the U.S. with the same firearms that Canada has banned that are still legal in the U.S. in most municipality's...

With Canada's reported violent-crime rate of 963 per 100,000 The Daily, Thursday, July 21, 2005. Crime statistics a rate about twice the Link Removed, Canada's politicians are understandably nervous.

John R. Lott Jr. on Canadian Gun Control:
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Gun Laws, Culture, Justice & Crime In Foreign Countries:
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Canadian Long gun registry is a waste: Chief Hanson is right...
Long gun registry is a waste: Chief Hanson is right

“...From available statistics, among the 27 countries surveyed, it is difficult to find a correlation between the existence of strict firearms regulations and a lower incidence of gun-related crimes. In Canada a dramatic increase in the percentage of handguns used in all homicides was reported during a period in which handguns were most strictly regulated. And in strictly regulated Germany, gun-related crime is much higher than in countries such as Switzerland and Israel, that have simpler and/or less restrictive legislation.” - Library of Congress, “Firearms Regulations in Various Foreign Countries, May 1998″

Lott_cover.jpg

John Lott's Website

More Guns, Less Crime: Understanding Crime and Gun Control Laws, Third Edition by Link Removed
More Guns, Less Crime, Studies in Law and Economics, John R. Lott, Book - Barnes & Noble

The Failure of Canadian Gun Control by Dave Link Removed
Whether or not gun control has affected the Canadian crime rate ... and the evidence is that it actually causes MORE crime ... gun control has been generally accepted by the SHEEPLE IN Canada...
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What you wear

Couple short stories on some friend that went "north." One is an NRA instructor friend of mine that had on an NRA T-shirt on crossing. After the same questions that many on this post mention, they looked at her shirt and did a complete tear down search of the vehicle, even through repeated denials of firearms and the right reason (fishing) for going there. The other is a retired LE who had on a cop shirt and went through the same thing. I like many here have no desire to go there, nice scenery or not. We have nice places in Minnesota. They can have their socialist paradise but not something I am interested in.
 
I have several handguns in Canada, ones I purchased there. Over the years I have heard a lot of horror stories about Canada. Many are just not true. BUT you have to respect the fact that it is a foriegn country, it is not a part of the states (yet).

In Canada, you are not allowed to have those Chinese Assault rifles, there is a long story about why, but in a nutshell, a member of Parlament showed up in camo with an AK and killed a few folks in Parlament. If that happened here, we would be see a lot more gun control, whether constitutional or not.

When I cross the border, I get strange questions, like have you ever been in front of a judge? I have to answer yes, during my divorce. Another one question that was asked, whats your business in Canada, I said to see my girlfriend, the Canadian agent replied, does your wife know?

If any one wants to comment of the Canadian healthcare system, please remember we just got one here in the states that is much worse than the one in Canada.

Jerry
 
Katy, who is a Canadian citizen, wears her NRA ball cap while crossing the border and never has any problems. She is working on her Life Membership.

Jerry
 
CathyInBlue said:
Customs Agent: Are you bringing any firearms into <insert country here>?
Me: No.
CA: Do you own any firearms?
Me: I already told you I have no firearms on or about my person or in my vehicle.
CA: But do you OWN any firearms?
Me: None of your business.
CA: Ma'am, I need to know for the form. Do you own any firearms?
Me: I already told you, that's none of your business as whether I own firearms or not, there are no firearms involved in this border crossing.
CA: *sigh* If you owned firearms, where would they be right now?
Me: *o_o* I'm not giving you an answer to any more firearms questions, move it along.
Click to expand...

This
 
Handguns are not banned in Canada. They are a restricted weapon for which a permit is not hard to obtain. We are also in the middle of dismanteling the Long Gun Registration. The crime rate involving guns is very low. For instance Toronto GTA has around 4 million people with about 125 murders a year and less than half of those are by guns.
theicemanmpls said:
This sounds like Canada eh?
Iti sounds like a typical question. The agent watches your reaction to the question.

I am wondering what the crime rate invovling firearms is in Canada? They have outlawed most if not all pistols.
Click to expand...
 
Sorry, I don't believe this was ever a Q & A between you and the Canadian Border with customs & immigration. First Rifles and handguns are not banned in Canada. Being a Canadian who for the trained firearms safety in Canada both for the FAC and the Restricted Weapons Permit. I know this to be a fact.

Second they are not obliged to call your attorney nor the State Department.

They can detain you at the border for not answering questions whether or not you like the questions. You may choose to answer or choose not to answer at which point they will tell you to turn your vehicle around and banning you from re-entry which may or may not cause you a problem. Which it can in the pacific coast area and the east coast as sometimes to get from one US point to another you must go through Canada.

Or they can tell you to pull in for inspection which can take minutes, hours or days depending on their mood.

Now as a Canadian living in the US I get asked many of the same questions. Do I have any firearms in my possession. To which I answer no. There is no form they have which records what guns you may have at home.

I have seen similar things when entering the US. A Canadian couple going shopping in Buffalo were asked some questions by the officer at the US Border. They got tired of the supposedly stupid questions and when he finally asked what specific stores they were going shopping at the man replied "What difference does that matter, I am not going to answer that." Well they found themselves detained, then arrested, then charged.

From years of experience going both ways across the border at multiple points as a resident of both countries I would advise anyone to be cautious at that invisible line because you are in their world and all the normal rules do not exist. Anyone who thinks differently is in for a very difficult time.

I am not saying it is right I am just saying the way it is.
 
They can ask you and it is not at your discretion to answer. Yes they can force you, again I am not saying this is right but neither the State Department nor your US attorney will not give you any assurance that not complying with a foreign governments requirements for entry will be protected because you are not a citizen of that country.
Bohemian said:
Hey now, I don't know where your animosity, and sarcasm on this is coming from, notwithstanding your lumping me in with C&L...

Let me try to clarify where I am/was coming from in my post...

I have personally crossed the Canadian border over the last 30 + years dozens of times on hunting trips alone...
I have always answered their superfluous questions in a manner consistent with how I described previously; I have NEVER been detained or had my person or vehicle segregated out from the normal flow of traffic at any given crossing...

I am NOT a Canadian citizen and according to my current understanding of the law; they have no authority to force myself or anybody else to answer any such questions regarding my activities or property owned in the United States of which I am a Natural Born U.S. Citizen...

They can ask all the questions they want, any that do not pertain to my travel in Canada are at my discretion to answer or not...

Contact a lawyer and or the U.S. Department of State if you need further peace of mind... (I have numerous times)

I am reminded of a quote of a certain attorney in a well-known supreme court case that made a statement similar to the following to 9 Supreme Court Justices...

... Just because many States & other Municipalities have grown accustomed to violating the rights of citizens; does not make it Constitutional...

Best Regards.
Click to expand...
 
We actually have about 1/10th the population of the US with more land mass and we have way more ethnic diversity not less. Canada is one of the most ethnic diverse countries on the planet if not the most. We have a higher education system and we live longer and more comfortably. We also tend to be more laid back than Americans.
handgonnetoter said:
The gun crime rate in Canada is quite lower, according to a documentary I watched a couple of months ago, than the United States. One thing to consider here though is that Canada has less than half the population of the States, and less ethnic diversity than the U.S. too. Oh, yea, they also don't share a boarder with Mexico either.
Click to expand...
 
Canadian Gun Control Now

Bohemian,

You need to be more fair in what you are showing on Canadian Gun Control. Showing Video from 10 years ago causes misinformation.

David Miller and the city council you see in your video are no longer in power in Toronto. Rob Ford (the new mayor) and more conservative City Councillors won in the last election. But even if they hadn't Toronto has no authority to change gun law. It can make all the proclamations it wants. It is the Canadian version of NY City, but unlike NY City it cannot make it's own stand alone gun law.

In the second video you show C68 which has not been enforced in Canada since 2005 when the conservative government took over as a minority government. Prime Minister Harper wanted to kill it outright but couldn't at the time as he didn't have the votes. So instead he de-funded the ministry in charge and ordered the Soliciter General to stop pursuing legal gun owners. Now that he has a majority government he is killing the bill outright.

Even if the federal government didn't go down this line the gun owners in Canada had defeated it anyways. The Liberal Government had said the project would cost about $2,000,000. Five years later it was $2,000,000,000 in costs and less than 40% of the legal gun owners had complied. Basically we broke the system by refusing to comply and when the general public saw the costs there was a n outcry against the government not the gun owners.

By the way even at the height of this how the law was carried out varied on where you were in Canada. In the West, in Provinces like Alberta even the police refused to participate in enforcing the law. It is also much easier to get your PAL (Possesion Accusation License) in the west than in the east as well it is easier to get your restricted weapons permit in the west. People were more defiant and outright said publicly they would not let their rights disappear into the night.

So Bohemian as a gun owner on both sides of the border I would recommend having all current facts and presenting them properly. you could have shown these videos of what could have happened but didn't, or you could have shown them as how to fend of a controlling government.

Now I love the US. It is now our home we love being here. But the US does need to take some lessons from Canada in fighting for it's individual freedoms. While the US has been eroding the individual freedoms of it's citizens, Canadians have been regaining theirs. You have been creating universal healthcare, we have been dismantling ours and creating private systems, we have no federal healthcare system. We have no federal education system. We do not have the federal labour board like you have, companies are free to move across the country as they like. Our Prime Minister has no Czars like your president.

It is not perfect, it also is no longer our home but I am proud of the steps it has taken in securing individual liberties.
 
You are entitled to your opinion, but not your own facts...

Everything in the videos was from primary sources... via the "National Rifle Association"

I let them speak for themselves...

Believe what you want to believe...

C-68 Is still the law of the land (In Canada) enforced or not... until the good intentions you mentioned are actually passed, you are a election away from enforcement of C-68 by a Liberal/Progressive Government...
Or making it even more draconian...



  • Link Removed





  • Link Removed


Repeal of firearms bill was a promise made by government
News on the Net Wednesday, August 31, 2011

For once I would like some “straight” answers to my questions from our politicians. I have written the Prime Minister and received two automated replies of their arrival. This is in regards to the repealing of Bill C-68 as promised. “Bill C-68 (The Firearms Act) has proven to be a bad law and has created a bureaucratic nightmare for both gun owners and the government.

As leader of the official Opposition, I will use all powers afforded to me as leader and continue our party’s fight to repeal Bill C-68 and replace it with a firearms control system that is cost effective and respects the rights of Canadians to own and use firearms responsibly.” (Mr. Harper, January, 2002)

My questions to the Prime Minister and Minister Breitkreuz are these: Did you make these promises? Yes or no? Are you men of your word? Show me.

There are no valid reasons for you to not keep your promises. There is one if you do not.

Automated replies do not answer the question and I expect to be answered in a clear straightforward answer! I, for one, do not like being “promised/lied” to from our leaders and I do not settle for the excuse, “oh well, that’s politics.”

I expect you to keep your word if you have any self respect. Do the right thing, take us back to the way it was before, with C-68 as you promised!

Thank you,
Chris Gilmore,
Logan Lake

Source:
Link Removed

The lesson we Americans can learn from Canada's gun control is to not allow such foolishness to get passed in the first place... so you don't have to spend 16 years and counting to try and get it repealed and off the books...

History has shown us that they are a whole lot easier to get on the books than off...

peace.
 
I was born in England, lived in Canada, am a Canadian Citizen,live in the US, am now a US Citizen. Have a Brit Passport also.

Crossing any border, any where in the world can be a problem.

Spoke to a lawyer this summer, his client crossed the border into Canada from NY State, unknowing he had done so! He is still in Jail! He had handguns in his SUV.

Living in Orlando, I own no property in Canada, we get visitors from Canada, we do not visit Canada. Just had a visit from our Son from California, and his Wife, we don't visit there either!

If you drive across the Canadian/US border, either way, you risk problems, flying in, less! The Canadians know you have no guns, unless you are using them for sporting or hunting purposes, and have jumped through all the paper work hoops prior to flying. Oh, and packed the firearms and any ammunition properly.

Why do we live in the US? Because I wanted to, love Florida, have a CCWL, do I think it is a good thing to carry a Pistol yes. Fly into London UK, join the line for returning Brits, Zip, straight through, back home, join the US Line, same zip!

Spoke to Toronto yesterday, snowing! 73 in the house just now, no air, or heat on!

By the way, Canadian crossing Guards are now armed! I have a friend who is a senior supervisor, he has no gun! Job does not require it!
 
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