Antique seized at Border

cz52

cz52

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I have a friend in the US that is a dealer and he sells me the odd antique firearm that I then bring up to Canada for my collection; he is an FFL dealer and he knows what is antique and what is legal for me to purchase there and I have done this on several occasions. Well this time things were not that smooth. I showed up to the Canadian border, where I declared that I had an Antique revolver and also declared the value. I has full paperwork on this gun, receipt of what I payed, proof that this gun is an antique(Colt DA in 41LC , produced in 1893), but they were still not convinced because the barrel, was of a newer production(marked 41LC of course) and after a wait of 3 hours and talking to the RCMP firearms lab, they decided to have the gun shipped to the RCMP to have the caliber verified.
I have explained to the that it is the receiver that counts as the firearm, as often times barrels get shot out on the old antiques, specially if black powder was used and need to be replaced, but they still insisted it has to get get sent out to verify caliber(on the properlt marked .41lc barrel). I explained that they can simply measure measure, or of they do not have a tape measurer, they can drop one of their 9mm rounds in the barrel or chamber and verify that it has not been changed to 38Colt(which would make it restricted), but they were absolutelly not going to have any of it. Important to note, they were absolutelly clueless, and they willfully disregarded every piece of information I uad on had.
 
This was a case of a totally clueless government employee, it was obvious they had no idea what any of the documentatuon provided meant. There are border agents there that are quite knowledgeable, with whom I have dealt in the past and wirh proof they had no issue releasing the firearm.
 
You were dealing with a glorified tax collector. What else would you expect? I always have antiques shipped regardless if I'm there at the time of purchase or not. That way I'm not personally tied up at the border while one of these heroes decide if it's legit or not. A few at customs are right up to speed on antiques & I'd probably call a head to the crossing I was using. Make sure that individual is there when you plan to cross. Again I'd just get em shipped from here on in...
 
I got held up at the border for half an hour because of a dozen Garand clips. I eventually ignored the cell phone prohibition, and showed them the specific exemption on the gov't site. Don't expect them to know the rules, or make a judgement call: burrow cats they is.
 
"We enforce da law! We don't hafta know da law! Don't tell me what da law says, I know what da law says! You a lawyer or sumtin?"

Some officers are really knowledgable and others are morons. The problem is that the morons are convinced they know everything. I guess that applies in all walks of life but in a government job they don't always get weeded out. Get them out of the port and re-assign them to the mail center where they cause less headache :-D.
 
It didn't bother me so much that they sent it for verification, it didn't much bother me that I will have to go back there and pick it up, what bothers me the most is that they have absolutelly NO CLUE how long verification will take, not even an estimate.
 
cz52 said:
It didn't bother me so much that they sent it for verification, it didn't much bother me that I will have to go back there and pick it up, what bothers me the most is that they have absolutely NO CLUE how long verification will take, not even an estimate.
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Well, this should instill some confidence then "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Ronald Reagan.
Rob
 
Nothing new. Twenty years ago i ordered a dummy handgrenade and a knife. They held up the shipment because they were trying to figure out whether a locking blade was legal. Luckily i had an old acquaintance who worked for customs. Gave him a shout after about 2 months waiting at work and 2 days later my stuff was released.
 
Last week they noticed a cardboard target backer full of holes in my car.

Are you a shooter? "yes"

What kind of guns do you have? "All kinds." (I was thinking - None of your business.)

What kind of shooting do you do? ""All kinds." (I was thinking - None of your business.)

I got a lecture about how it was their duty to keep Canada safe and they didn't like my flippant answers. (I was thinking they were lucky to get a truthful answer. My sports activities are none of their business. Their business was "Do you have any firearms or weapons in the car?" Which had already been asked and answered at the booth.)

They searched my car for a half hour.

I resent being asked personal questions that are none of their business. The kind of guns I have at home has nothing to do with what I am doing at the border.
 
Ganderite said:
Last week they noticed a cardboard target backer full of holes in my car.

Are you a shooter? "yes"

What kind of guns do you have? "All kinds." (I was thinking - None of your business.)

What kind of shooting do you do? ""All kinds." (I was thinking - None of your business.)

I got a lecture about how it was their duty to keep Canada safe and they didn't like my flippant answers. (I was thinking they were lucky to get a truthful answer. My sports activities are none of their business. Their business was "Do you have any firearms or weapons in the car?" Which had already been asked and answered at the booth.)

They searched my car for a half hour.

I resent being asked personal questions that are none of their business. The kind of guns I have at home has nothing to do with what I am doing at the border.
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Some much for being friendly, but I guess it takes all kinds
 
DANCESWITHEMPTIES said:
You were dealing with a glorified tax collector. What else would you expect? I always have antiques shipped regardless if I'm there at the time of purchase or not. That way I'm not personally tied up at the border while one of these heroes decide if it's legit or not. A few at customs are right up to speed on antiques & I'd probably call a head to the crossing I was using. Make sure that individual is there when you plan to cross. Again I'd just get em shipped from here on in...
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This ^ The reason shipping is good is the guns end up in a section of Customs where the officers know what a antique firearm is . walking thru you wont get that very often.
 
I had a similar experience about 4 years ago. Thought agent was overstepping his authority. Because one of my receipts indicated a donation to the NRA I assumed he was anti-gun and filed a complaint. Long story short, they have the authority to ask just about any question. I posted about the incident on gunnutz and was excoriated for standing up for myself.


Ganderite said:
Last week they noticed a cardboard target backer full of holes in my car.

Are you a shooter? "yes"

What kind of guns do you have? "All kinds." (I was thinking - None of your business.)

What kind of shooting do you do? ""All kinds." (I was thinking - None of your business.)

I got a lecture about how it was their duty to keep Canada safe and they didn't like my flippant answers. (I was thinking they were lucky to get a truthful answer. My sports activities are none of their business. Their business was "Do you have any firearms or weapons in the car?" Which had already been asked and answered at the booth.)

They searched my car for a half hour.

I resent being asked personal questions that are none of their business. The kind of guns I have at home has nothing to do with what I am doing at the border.
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They have a series to film...…...dontchah know.

Oh, and wartch yer ahtire.
Hornady chapeau and a hunt, eat, sleep repeat shirt don't help
when x'in the border.

They spent some time search'in me rig also.
What'd they find?
Spare clothes behind the seat, kupple mini rolls awf arse wipe in zippies, cd case,
first aid kit, glub bawx full of registration papers and fishing/hunting regs in the
behind the passenger seat compartment.
Oh, and a BC backroads map.
 
guninhand said:
I had a similar experience about 4 years ago. Thought agent was overstepping his authority. Because one of my receipts indicated a donation to the NRA I assumed he was anti-gun and filed a complaint. Long story short, they have the authority to ask just about any question. I posted about the incident on gunnutz and was excoriated for standing up for myself.
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They have the authority to ask anything they want. But they can't deny a Canadian citizen re-entry based on him declining to answer. When I'm feeling frisky I'll tell them "United States of America" when they ask where I went. "Do you want to be more specific than that?" Is their next question. "Not particularly," I reply. Sometimes they'll pull me aside for a quick vehicle search but usually they don't bother. Never have I been lectured about my non-answers. Answer the mandatory questions and they let you in.
 
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