Wrong turn into Canada leads to arrest for gun

[karder]

A couple of years ago I was riding into Canada with a group of buddies. When we got to the border and hit the Canadian customs, the officer looked at our plates and said, "you guys are from Texas?" I replied, "yes". He says "do you all own any guns?" My brother-in-law replies, "Sir, between the four of us, we own more guns than the entire country of Canada, but they are all back in Texas". Fortunately, the officer had a good sense of humor and laughed, then waved us on through with after a couple more questions. We had a great trip, but honestly, I don't like traveling anywhere where a gun owner is a criminal.

[philip964]

I want to visit all four corners of the US. Two down. Two to go.

Its not just the Canadians:

On our visit to the end of Route 1 in Maine we entered from the Canadian side. Asked by US border patrol the reason for our trip into the US. I told the truth. "We are going to the end of Route 1 and return to Canada and resume our vacation." Which then received the, "pull your car into bay 1" This is the first time I have been separated from my car during one of these inspections. At least my wife and I were not separated and questioned separately.

After an hour inspection of the car a number of items were brought in for our identification. Both our toilet kits were singled out. Inside was each of our 14 day medicine kits, with a snap container for each day of our trip. We had to identify each of the pills. That is for high blood pressure. That is a beta blocker. That is for colerestral. That is a fish oil tablet.

We were chastised for not keeping them in the perscription bottles, but our pills were not comfiscated and we were finally allowed go to the end of Route 1 about ten minutes away and return into Canada.

Luck of the draw or they wanted to discourage spending ten minutes in the US and returning to Canada.

[Oldgringo]

I want to visit all four corners of the US. Two down. Two to go.

Its not just the Canadians:

On our visit to the end of Route 1 in Maine we entered from the Canadian side. Asked by US border patrol the reason for our trip into the US. I told the truth. "We are going to the end of Route 1 and return to Canada and resume our vacation." Which then received the, "pull your car into bay 1" This is the first time I have been separated from my car during one of these inspections. At least my wife and I were not separated and questioned separately.

After an hour inspection of the car a number of items were brought in for our identification. Both our toilet kits were singled out. Inside was each of our 14 day medicine kits, with a snap container for each day of our trip. We had to identify each of the pills. That is for high blood pressure. That is a beta blocker. That is for colerestral. That is a fish oil tablet.

We were chastised for not keeping them in the perscription bottles, but our pills were not comfiscated and we were finally allowed go to the end of Route 1 about ten minutes away and return into Canada.

Luck of the draw or they wanted to discourage spending ten minutes in the US and returning to Canada.

Did/do you have Texas plates?

[Dori]

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?

[WildBill]

I want to visit all four corners of the US. Two down. Two to go.

Its not just the Canadians:

On our visit to the end of Route 1 in Maine we entered from the Canadian side. Asked by US border patrol the reason for our trip into the US. I told the truth. "We are going to the end of Route 1 and return to Canada and resume our vacation." Which then received the, "pull your car into bay 1" This is the first time I have been separated from my car during one of these inspections. At least my wife and I were not separated and questioned separately.

After an hour inspection of the car a number of items were brought in for our identification. Both our toilet kits were singled out. Inside was each of our 14 day medicine kits, with a snap container for each day of our trip. We had to identify each of the pills. That is for high blood pressure. That is a beta blocker. That is for colerestral. That is a fish oil tablet.

We were chastised for not keeping them in the perscription bottles, but our pills were not comfiscated and we were finally allowed go to the end of Route 1 about ten minutes away and return into Canada.

Luck of the draw or they wanted to discourage spending ten minutes in the US and returning to Canada.

Did/do you have Texas plates?

I had a similar experience. I was in a rental car from Washington state coming back from a day in Victoria. I was with a friend and they kept asking me "who owns this car". And I would reply "I rented this car". Fortunately one of the customs officers that I talked to called off the goons who were going to rip the car apart.

[chasfm11]

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.

[rbwhatever1]

[boxermoose]

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

[chasfm11]

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.

[VoiceofReason]

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?

I read that some court ruled that it does not violate your rights if physicians ask if you own a gun. My position for some time is “just say no, “we don’t believe in guns”.

To my knowledge there is no law against lying to a doctor. You can also help make them crazy and have fun doing so.

First, if a lot of doctors find out about this stance they will not know who is lying or who is telling the truth. Make sure your family is on board with this and why you are taking this stance.

After he asks and you tell him you don’t have guns, the next time you take one of the kids to see him, make it a point to wear your NRA cap. Keep insisting you don’t have guns even after allowing three or four empty casings to fall out of your pocket in front of him. With the right attitude we could have a lot of fun with this.

[VoiceofReason]

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?

I read that some court ruled that it does not violate your rights if physicians ask if you own a gun. My position for some time is “just say no, “we don’t believe in guns”.

To my knowledge there is no law against lying to a doctor. You can also help make them crazy and have fun doing so.

First, if a lot of doctors find out about this stance they will not know who is lying or who is telling the truth. Make sure your family is on board with this and why you are taking this stance.

After he asks and you tell him you don’t have guns, the next time you take one of the kids to see him, make it a point to wear your NRA cap. Keep insisting you don’t have guns even after allowing three or four empty casings to fall out of your pocket in front of him. With the right attitude we could have a lot of fun with this.

[philip964]

I want to visit all four corners of the US. Two down. Two to go.

Its not just the Canadians:

On our visit to the end of Route 1 in Maine we entered from the Canadian side. Asked by US border patrol the reason for our trip into the US. I told the truth. "We are going to the end of Route 1 and return to Canada and resume our vacation." Which then received the, "pull your car into bay 1" This is the first time I have been separated from my car during one of these inspections. At least my wife and I were not separated and questioned separately.

After an hour inspection of the car a number of items were brought in for our identification. Both our toilet kits were singled out. Inside was each of our 14 day medicine kits, with a snap container for each day of our trip. We had to identify each of the pills. That is for high blood pressure. That is a beta blocker. That is for colerestral. That is a fish oil tablet.

We were chastised for not keeping them in the perscription bottles, but our pills were not comfiscated and we were finally allowed go to the end of Route 1 about ten minutes away and return into Canada.

Luck of the draw or they wanted to discourage spending ten minutes in the US and returning to Canada.

Did/do you have Texas plates?

No rented the car in Boston MA.

[ghostrider]

You can actually get a permit to take a long gun in if you pay $50 and have paperwork about your intended use.

You can get permits to bring pistols into Canada as well, but generally only for sanctioned/approved sporting events (IPSC) and only with a written invitation from the organization along with all the required permits/paperwork.

And you cannot judge all Canadians by the actions/views of the border guards at a particular crossing. Just like the US which really consists of different regions with different views (ie. US 'proper', the Free Republic of Texas and the nanny states - CA,MA,NY,etc), Canada can be similarly described:

Ontario (run by Toronto politicians who tend to be very anti-gun)
BC (hippies and radicals; apparently good skiiing)
the west (think North, NORTH, Texas - oil, beef, wheat, pickup truck/gun rack country)
the Atlantic (generally ignored by Ontario)
the People's Republik of Quebec (wants to be a separate country as long as Canada pays for it)

[Oldgringo]

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.

[mamabearCali]

Canada is beautiful. Too cold though. Us tender foots went north to Canada late March one time. It was spring here in VA, sunny, flowers etc etc. We got to Niagara falls and were shocked to find it still frozen. We had brought coats, but not hats or mittens, no snow boots, just little tennis shoes, any my poor brothers had a hole in it!. It snowed two feet! We went shopping that day. I now shudder to think of how much it cost my parents to outfit all four of us in winter gear that day. It was probably a pretty penny.


We were not gun people when I was young. My dad had an ancient (civil war) rifle and a shotty, but not much else. Montreal was weird, just weird. Ottowa was nice. Loved the capital. It was really interesting going to the historical forts and reading history of the war of 1812 from the other viewpoint.

The most funny thing that happened while I was there was someone thought my dad (27 years older than me) was married to me. Probably because I was a daddy's girl and was holding his hand. I was 14 at the time and horrified, but of course now I just laugh and laugh.