acmariner99
Regular Member
Ok, it's confession time.
One time a number of years ago (The statute of limitations has expired and I'll deny it anyway) I forgot that I had my deer rifle in the back of my vehicle when returning home to Washington from Montana. We decided to take the Scenic Route home and entered Canada at Port Hill Idaho, and for some reason the question was never asked because if it had I probably would have freaked out.
We got all the way to Osoyoos and was approaching the US border when I remembered what I had in back. Again the border guard never asked about firearms, so we made it through untouched but boy was I nervous. Today with all the detectors they have at border crossings I would probably have been toast.
I'm not sure what US Customs would have done, but do know for sure had Canadian Customs or any Mounties found it, I would have been in a mell of a hess.
From that point on I always give my vehicles a good search before heading north. I even have one I won't take across the border no matter what, as I'm sure there are a few shells I've lost over the years hiding in a crevice somewhere.
Actually, as long as it is not a semi-automatic and you had told the Mounties about it, all you have to do is fill out a form, give them 25 bucks, and say that you are just transiting Canada and you're good to go. The crime as far as Canada is concerned is not telling them you have it in the first place. I don't know if the onus is on you to tell them regardless of whether you get asked or not. I've thought about driving the AK highway and do not want to get that far into the middle of nowhere unarmed so I did my homework. All US Customs would ask is "did you have item xyz before you entered Canada."