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Canada travelers' warning

Richard6218

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There is an article on Page 77 of the December issue of American Rifleman warning all who travel to Canada that it is a criminal offense to possess a handgun and much worse to have a handgun and ammunition, whether the gun is loaded or not. They impound vehicles ($5000 to get it out of hock) as well as weapons/ammo and violations mean serious jail time not to mention the cost in attorney fees, fines,bail, etc.

For more, go to www.nraila.org/canada as well as the American Rifleman article.
 

FMCDH

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Richard6218 wrote:
They impound vehicles ($5000 to get it out of hock) as well as weapons/ammo and violations mean serious jail time not to mention the cost in attorney fees, fines,bail, etc.

For more, go to http://www.nraila.org/canada as well as the American Rifleman article.
Let me warn this and make it clear. If they take your firearm, you WONT get it back, period! It will be destroyed. From what I am understanding from military travel reports, no amount of money will get your gun back. If you get caught at the border, you have the choice of going back or turning it over. If you get caught in the interior, its buh by! :?

There are allowances for rifles and shotguns under strict rules and large fees from what I understand, but no hand guns what so ever. Basically, the gun has to be in as many pieces it can be, must be and remain locked in a hard case at all times, and you have to get a waiver.

That link says it all...
 

shad0wfax

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Cremator75 wrote:
Kind of makes it hard to drive to Alaska. I guess you either have to fly of have you gun mailed to where your going.

You could always take the Alaska ferry from Bellingham if you wanted to get your vehicle and firearms to Alaska from Washington.

It stands to reason that if you are travelling from Bellingham to somewhere in ALaska and your firearms remain locked and cased in your vehicle, which is not entering Canada, that it wouldn't be an issue.
 

kparker

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FMCDH,

You make the situation sound more dire than it is. The fees, while not trivial, aren't something I would characterize as punitive, either--for example, a single Possession and Acquisition License for as many non-prohibited firearms as you care to register, is $80 for a 5-year term.

And while there are plenty of handguns that are on the prohibited list, there are plenty that aren't: as long at the barrel exceeds 105mm (~ 4.1") and it's not .25 or .32 cal, it's "restricted", which means you can at least get an Authorization to Transport for it (you will also need a 10-rd or smaller magazine for it, as larger ones are on the prohibited list.)

So you could easily travel to Alaska with all your WA-legal long arms, any handguns that are not short-barrelled, and any low-cap magazines for them (10-rd max for handguns, 5-rd for rifles--that's more of an impediment than anything else on their list of restrictions, where am I going to find a 5-rd mag for my M1A? Note the M1 Garand and the Lee Enfield variants are specifically noted by name as not being not prohibited despite their greater-than-5-rd capacity.)

See both the Canada site linked to by the NRAILA site already mentioned:

http://www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca/factsheets/visitin_e.asp

as well as this helpful page with lots of commentary on the above:

http://www.panda.com/canadaguns/
 

joeroket

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shad0wfax wrote:
Cremator75 wrote:
Kind of makes it hard to drive to Alaska. I guess you either have to fly of have you gun mailed to where your going.

You could always take the Alaska ferry from Bellingham if you wanted to get your vehicle and firearms to Alaska from Washington.

It stands to reason that if you are travelling from Bellingham to somewhere in ALaska and your firearms remain locked and cased in your vehicle, which is not entering Canada, that it wouldn't be an issue.
The ferries to Alaska go through Canadian water.
 

bcp

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If you want one to for the AK portion of the trip, just buy one when you get there. When coming home, if you want to keep it, mail/UPS/etc. it to yourself at the home address. Or sell or consign it before leaving AK.

Or send your gun to a dealer in AK, to be picked up when you arrive. There is/used to be dealer/s in Tok that specialized in that.

Bruce
 

bcp

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The ferries to Alaska go through Canadian water.
Doesn't matter. I've carried on the ferry. Canada doesn't care. You are not getting off in Canada. Just like flying over a portion of Canada when you fly to AK.

Bruce
 

Nitrox314

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I think the border crossing has lockers though. I had a friend who knew this guy who took rifles and such up into Canada to sell (Legally) and once he had his sidearm with him and he left it in a safe at the Border Patrol office (Near Birch Bay/Custer area).
 

FMCDH

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kparker wrote:
FMCDH,

You make the situation sound more dire than it is.

Let me state this again for clarity...

According to military travel reports (military members who arePCSing to or from Alaska) if Canadian authorities take away a firearm (you get caught without the appropriate paperwork) they will NOT give it back, and it WILL be destroyed.

I don't see how that wouldn't be considered dire when your talking about a firearmthat cost several hundred to several thousand dollars.

This was simply meanta warning for people toknow the rules andplay by them. :)

As for the fees, $80 is allot of money for a married E-3, so the term "large fees" is subjective. :p
 

BobR

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Read the rules. Pay the fees and travel with your guns in Canada without a problem. I go up every year to Alberta to shoot ground squirrels. I have never had a problem getting a gun into Canada, in fact it took longer on the US side to do the paperwork to ensure they knew I took it with me.

It boils down to knowing the law and following it.

bob
 

Richard6218

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FMCDH wrote:
kparker wrote:
FMCDH,

You make the situation sound more dire than it is.
Let me state this again for clarity...

According to military travel reports (military members who arePCSing to or from Alaska) if Canadian authorities take away a firearm (you get caught without the appropriate paperwork) they will NOT give it back, and it WILL be destroyed.

I don't see how that wouldn't be considered dire when your talking about a firearmthat cost several hundred to several thousand dollars.

This was simply meanta warning for people toknow the rules andplay by them. :)

As for the fees, $80 is allot of money for a married E-3, so the term "large fees" is subjective. :p


kparker, you need to read the article in American Rifleman --- are you an NRA member? If you haven't received the December issue yet it should arrive any day.That article makes it very clear. Possessing a handgun in Canada is a VERYserious crime. And possessing ammunitionand a handgun at the same time is even worse. I have said italready here, and others have repeated as much, the fines are heavy and the potential for jail time is serious. If you want to go up there and test these warnings, go ahead. Just don't say we didn't warn you.
 

FMCDH

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Richard6218 wrote:
kparker, you need to read the article in American Rifleman --- are you an NRA member? If you haven't received the December issue yet it should arrive any day.That article makes it very clear. Possessing a handgun in Canada is a VERYserious crime. And possessing ammunitionand a handgun at the same time is even worse. I have said italready here, and others have repeated as much, the fines are heavy and the potential for jail time is serious. If you want to go up there and test these warnings, go ahead. Just don't say we didn't warn you.
Thanks Richard6218, I completely forgot to mention the possible jail time and fines!:uhoh:According to the reports I have read, the Canadian authorities have a tendency to look the other wayfor US Military on PCS orderswhen it comes to thejail time, but the fines they don't. I wouldn't test that tho. ;)
 

heresolong

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Maybe its because I live so close to Canada and, having grown up there, travel north all the time, but I don't understand why the hysteria. Of course they have different gun laws. They are a different country. Why anyone would travel to a different country without first checking out the laws I don't know. I haven't read the article yet (I am a life member of the NRA but have been out of town the last week) but it seems a little hysterical to go on and on about how Canada can jail you and fine you and take your guns. No shit. It is your responsibility to check out the laws anywhere you travel and make sure that you abide by them. Anyone who thinks that it is OK to pack your car full of guns and drive to Canada without bothering to do a little research is, imo, a bit of an idiot.

Oh, also, they ask you at the border if you have any weapons. All these alleged folks who got pulled over in the middle of Canada and had their guns taken away, they must have lied to the border agents in order to get that far. So there you go, they had an opportunity to deal with the situation before it ever arose and they didn't. Apparently.
 

Richard6218

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FMCDH wrote:
Richard6218 wrote:
kparker, you need to read the article in American Rifleman --- are you an NRA member? If you haven't received the December issue yet it should arrive any day.That article makes it very clear. Possessing a handgun in Canada is a VERYserious crime. And possessing ammunitionand a handgun at the same time is even worse. I have said italready here, and others have repeated as much, the fines are heavy and the potential for jail time is serious. If you want to go up there and test these warnings, go ahead. Just don't say we didn't warn you.
Thanks Richard6218, I completely forgot to mention the possible jail time and fines!:uhoh:According to the reports I have read, the Canadian authorities have a tendency to look the other wayfor US Military on PCS orderswhen it comes to thejail time, but the fines they don't. I wouldn't test that tho. ;)
FMCDH, I've been referring to the ordinary citizen entering Canada in the context of the American Rifleman article only. I have no knowledge of their rules about US military personnel on duty, which may be entirely different. If you are military (I think your icon says USCG) you know much more about that than I do, and if you go into Canada on US Government business it would behoove you to know their laws as they apply to you specifically.
 

Richard6218

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I don't understand why the hysteria. Of course they have different gun laws. They are a different country.
I don't think it's hysterical to quote the NRA's warning about Canadian laws. I was just pointing to the article so people can read it and draw their own conclusions.
 

FMCDH

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Richard6218 wrote:
FMCDH, I've been referring to the ordinary citizen entering Canada in the context of the American Rifleman article only. I have no knowledge of their rules about US military personnel on duty, which may be entirely different. If you are military (I think your icon says USCG) you know much more about that than I do, and if you go into Canada on US Government business it would behoove you to know their laws as they apply to you specifically.
From everything I know, the "rules" for civilian and military passing through Canada are no different. Officially, the Canadian government makes no distinction between them in such a matter. I'm just talking about the reported practice of the authorities there being a little more lenient to US Military.

However, like I said, I wouldn't want to bank on it. :)
 
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