Wrong turn into Canada leads to arrest for gun

[Laneman]

This makes me appreciate our freedoms in the U.S. Just think, this is what the liberals want in our country.

Retired Army Sergeant Major Louis DiNatale was on his way to Vermont for vacation in his wife's car when he took a wrong turn, ended up on a bridge to Canada, and was charged for possession of a firearm after Canadian customs agents found a small-caliber pistol in his wife's console.
Although DiNatale made it clear he was on the bridge inadvertently and simply wanted to u-turn and return to the United States, he was handcuffed and could face three years in prison.
According to the LA Times, DiNatale had forgotten the gun was in his wife's console shortly after putting it there so it wouldn't be in his truck when he drove onto base at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. He put the pistol in his wife's car for safe-keeping then forgot all about it.
When a Canadian custom agent asked DiNatale if he owned guns, the retired Sergeant Major said, "yes."
The agent then asked, "why?" and DiNatale said it was because he was retired military and accustomed to weapons. He added that he had a concealed permit to carry a weapon as well.
The agent then asked DiNatale when he had last carried a gun. DiNatale told him it was earlier in the week.
A search of the vehicle ensued, and officers found a Bersa .380 handgun in the console of DiNatale's wife's car. He was handcuffed and interrogated for "trying to smuggle a loaded handgun into the country – and lying about it."
DiNatale's Canadian attorney Bruce Engel said, "Canada overreacted to DiNatale's honest mistake and is using his case to send a message."
DiNatale has a hearing in Canada in June. He faces three years if convicted.
Retrieved from
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government ... Wrong-Turn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Excaliber]

This makes me appreciate our freedoms in the U.S. Just think, this is what the liberals want in our country.

Retired Army Sergeant Major Louis DiNatale was on his way to Vermont for vacation in his wife's car when he took a wrong turn, ended up on a bridge to Canada, and was charged for possession of a firearm after Canadian customs agents found a small-caliber pistol in his wife's console.
Although DiNatale made it clear he was on the bridge inadvertently and simply wanted to u-turn and return to the United States, he was handcuffed and could face three years in prison.
According to the LA Times, DiNatale had forgotten the gun was in his wife's console shortly after putting it there so it wouldn't be in his truck when he drove onto base at Ft. Knox, Kentucky. He put the pistol in his wife's car for safe-keeping then forgot all about it.
When a Canadian custom agent asked DiNatale if he owned guns, the retired Sergeant Major said, "yes."
The agent then asked, "why?" and DiNatale said it was because he was retired military and accustomed to weapons. He added that he had a concealed permit to carry a weapon as well.
The agent then asked DiNatale when he had last carried a gun. DiNatale told him it was earlier in the week.
A search of the vehicle ensued, and officers found a Bersa .380 handgun in the console of DiNatale's wife's car. He was handcuffed and interrogated for "trying to smuggle a loaded handgun into the country – and lying about it."
DiNatale's Canadian attorney Bruce Engel said, "Canada overreacted to DiNatale's honest mistake and is using his case to send a message."
DiNatale has a hearing in Canada in June. He faces three years if convicted.
Retrieved from
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government ... Wrong-Turn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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

[chasfm11]

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.

[txglock21]

As I have stated in other threads, I have no interest in going back to Canada, Mexico or any other of these backwards thinking countries. Been there, done that and got the t-shirt. I did enough "traveling" while in the Air Force and will stick with the good old USA. (Well some of it anyways)

[JALLEN]

He should be glad it wasn't Mexico. Recall that fellow who was delivering a shotgun to someplace south of Mexico and crossed the border and declared it. He had been told it was OK to take it just passing through or something. How long did he rot in Mexico's prison before pressure from the US finally got him out?

[mojo84]

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.

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?

[philip964]

My car was searched for an hour at the border crossing near Sault Ste Marie in Canada. Reason? Texas license plates. At the time I did not own any guns.

They can only ask so many stupid questions, until they have to get back to "do you have a pistol in the car?", for the tenth time.

When I enter Canada in a rental car without Texas plates, I am never stopped.

[JALLEN]

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 understand the temptation, take the easy way out, etc. but having spent a lifetime avoiding lying, dealing with the consequences of others lying, and generally being as H. R. Haldeman said so eloquently, "so [expletive deleted] square [I'd] get caught", I would find it distasteful and unworthy to lie, especially over something I am not ashamed of. OTOH, I'm not ashamed of avoiding going to Canada, Massachusetts, New York or other places where I might not be welcome, as is.

[misterlarry]

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

[chasfm11]

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.

[chasfm11]

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.

[Oldgringo]

We went up to beautiful Fernie, BC from Flathead Lake a couple summers ago. Going in we were asked why we're entering and if we had any guns with us. We answered, 'to visit our new friends and no'. On our way back into Montana, the US Border Patrol guy asked if we'd bought any liquor and, we answered, 'heavens no'. Texas plates notwithstanding, our border crossings were without drama.

[mamabearCali]

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.

Citizens of a country are very very rarely anything like the bureaucratic donkeys in public office and in places of power. I would never step foot in Saudi Arabia....but I have known wonderful people from that country.

[jimlongley]

I have crossed into Canada several times, and more than a couple of those were by accident. As an engineer for NY Telephone Company my territory covered a large swath of the Canadian border, and up there not all border crossings are "manned."

I was up in the St. Regis Reservation and took a wrong turn and wound up driving out into Canada. I just turned around and drove back, no biggie. I also was up north of Ellenburg looking for a power station that was going to "recycle" wood scrap from lumbering operations and burn it to generate electricity and I was on the wrong road. Calling it a road is actually giving it a significant raise. Anyway, I drove until I came to a paved road, and discovered I wa sin Canada, so I drove over to NY 189 and came back into the states the "legal" way. No issues with US Customs.

[chasfm11]

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.