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Oldgringo wrote:It does work both ways. Our Canadian friends would leave {stuff} with us for disposal when they headed back north. Being the gracious CG Hosts that we are, we would see to the proper disposal of the {stuff} before it could be declared contraband at the border.

Enforcement of excess cigarettes and alcohol against Canadian citizens by their own border patrol was a constant topic of conservation while I was visiting there. Never stand between a politician and his revenue and Canadian politicians follow the familiar pattern.

It would be tough duty to have to help dispose of excess "stuff" but someone has to do it.

boxermoose wrote:Oh heck, it works the same both ways - happens when the US and Canadian customs share databases post 9/11

Coming back from BC my wife had her kinder surprise confiscated (think chocolate hollow egg with a crackerjack type prize inside) by US customs

You forget you have a gun going into another country...ain't going to work out well for you, he's lucky it wasn't Mexico

You forget you have a gun in your carry on (some guys use there range bags for this purpose, like a friend of mine) in any US airport and you may go to jail - or face a heavy fine - my friend did this in Dallas and he's over $10k into it now

You are right about all of that. One of the RV stories was that a family was slapped with a $300 fine for bringing back a package of frozen lasagna in the RV 'fridge back from Canada by US Customs. They bought originally bought it in the US (and could prove it) and had taken it into Canada, too. Go figure. It is more than a little disconcerting when you start to take into account the things that aren't even attempting to cross the border legally and yet have no difficulties doing so.

Mistakes with guns are costly. It just depends on the type of payment.

Dori wrote:

chasfm11 wrote:I don't think that Canadians are the only ones anxious to make an example of him.

That's an interesting thought. Are the Canadians being so hard-nosed because that's their nature or because the US Government "encouraged" them to make examples out of American gun owners?

Like here, there are some strongly anti-gun representatives in Canada. While the Canadian border control can have a real hissy fit over just about anything from having too much alcohol or cigarettes to having the wrong food items in a vehicle (the list seems always changing), they seem universally suspicious of US people and possible guns. I don't think they need any help from Washington to whip up on that. Pistols are a really big no-no. You can actually get a permit to take a long gun in if you pay $50 and have paperwork about your intended use. I knew a several guys who used to go to Canada to hunt and never seemed to have problems getting their guns into the country. There are supposed to be some ways to take guns through Canada if you are on your way to Alaska, too, but I don't know the specifics about how to do that. The entry points on the Canadian West coast have been reported as easier to deal with in such matters.

I frequented the IRV2.Com RV forum for years. Entertainment on a Saturday night, before the moderation cracked down tight, was to start a RV/gun thread and have a couple of the Canadians join it. It could get ugly quick.

On a side note, the Canadian RVers used to really get their britches in a wad over US RV driving licenses. It is almost as complex State to State as the gun laws but never as difficult as the Canadians have to go through. If they have an RV with air brakes, they have to get a special endorsement for it that requires them spending several days examining the air brake system on a dump truck. There is no comparison between that kind of a system and the automatic slack adjusting systems that are on RVs but they have to study it anyway. I got in a really heated discussion with a guy from BC who couldn't stop telling me what a menace I was on the road for not having to take the air brake endorsement course In Texas. If my RV is under 26,000lbs (and it is), I can drive it with a normal Class C driver's license. It really chapped his hide that because of the reciprocal driver's license recognition between the US and Canada, I could drive my RV on HIS street in BC. You could almost see him frothing at the mouth through his posts. Many Canadian RVers have a similar feeling towards the US RVers who carry handguns. I'll bet I heard "do even dream of bringing the pistol into Canada" many times. Of course, I won't.

I meant to add to one of my previous posts that if we had a more gun-friendly Federal administration, I doubt that the OP would last very long. A little diplomatic exchange and the errant driver would be issued a stern admonishment never to take a similar action in the future and be released from further penalties. Given the policy decisions and support of the UN Gun Treaty by Sec. Kerry, the poor guy is probably going to be left swinging in the breeze. I don't think that Canadians are the only ones anxious to make an example of him.

misterlarry wrote:Makes me sad and ashamed to admit that I'm Canadian by birth. Thank God I'm a Texan now!

Outside of Toronto, I have nothing but good interactions with the Canadians that I met. I don't judge the citizens of our country by the conduct of some of our TSA agents and don't think the attitudes of some of the Canadian border patrol represent the population either.

I will admit to some heated discussions with my Canadian co-workers when the Dallas Stars were playing better than they are today. Hockey is a serious item there and I happened to arrive a day after the Flames had been given a thrashing by Dallas. It wasn't pretty.

mojo84 wrote: Out of curiosity and not intending to promote lying or doing anything illegal. What would be the problem of just saying, no I do not own any guns? How would they no and even if they did know, what could they do as long as you do not have them on you at the time?

I'm a terrible poker player because I'm a really lousy liar. The safest path for me is, as much as possible, to tell the truth. My body will give me away when I don't.

We had nothing to hide in the RV but the number of restrictions going into Canada, for me, is appalling. We pretty much emptied our food before the border and repurchased what we needed at a Canadian grocery store. There are severe limits on alcohol. When the border officials start a search of an RV, they rarely limit it to just one area - say firearms and can spend several hours at it. Read the RV.NET and IRV2.COM forums with a search on the word "Canada" and you'll understand. Read the Canadian customs requirements and you'll understand the art of the possible. They can and do search laptops. Fines and confiscations can be a real problem.

My goal was to avoid any search. I was successful. Having crossed the Canadian border at several different points, I believe that the Toronto area, like the US Northeast, is the worst. I flew in and out of Calgary and found the agents there to be much different. Calgary is much like Ft. Worth and I sensed a completely different attitude toward Texans there. In Ontario, the attitude is much different toward anyone from Texas.

The OP is exactly the attitude that I'm talking about. It is no more surprising to me than if the subject in that story had been caught with a gun in NY.

Excaliber wrote: Canada's government is clearly more interested in messaging than justice.

A few years ago, I traveled fairly extensively in Europe and Canada on business. I was in Italy, France, The Netherlands and Denmark on a regular basis, passing among several of those countries on any given trip. The worst experience that I ever had was flying in to Toronto. After a protracted and increasing heated debate with the Canadian customs agent about the purpose of my business trip to Canada, I told her to make a decision and let me in or to deport me. I was done talking to her. At the slightest hint that a US citizen is coming to Canada to work in a "protected" area, there is a high level of scrutiny applied. The trigger was that my business card said that I was a project manager (true) and that was how I answered the original agent's question when asked. They apparently want to sent a message to US businesses.

I, too, was quizzed if I "owned firearms" when we crossed the Canadian border. My reply was yes but that we have left them back in Texas because I understood Canadian firearms law. We were in an RV and they could have really made it miserable for us by searching it to verify my statement. She waved us through. I'm sure that our Texas license plate was the catalyst for the discussion.