Questar is BOTH a Canadian and a US company. We purchase products in the US as licensed domestic dealer. Our US company is a fully licensed US FFL (Federal Firearms License) holder... in fact we are also an "08 - Importer" licensed by ATF.
We are a Registered ITAR Exporter (vetted and licensed by the US State Department to export ITAR controlled items) and we are an approved/licensed Commerce Department exporter as well (for non-ITAR controlled items).
Our "Canadian" office is therefore in a very different position than other Canadian dealers... it would be very difficult if not impossible for most others to do what we do. It took several years a quite a bit of money to put all of that in place.
There are US companies out there that will handle the export paperwork for a dealer but the costs can be prohibitive.
In my experience it takes us @ 3 hours total to process a simple uncontested DSP-5 Export Permit (that is from start to finish... the IIC, the PO, the copies of documents, conversion to .pdf, preparation of DSP-5 submission, processing of the approved permit once processed). Those that say "get a permit for 2,000" have never dealt with US State Department... we've had them reject permit requests for 100 of something saying that the quantity was too high.
Most customs brokers today want a minimum fee PLUS a % of the value of the shipment they clear... even if you negotiate a very good rate that can still add considerably to the unit cost of a gun.
If you can find a carrier that will transport firearms across the border then please let me and everyone else know who they are... very few carriers will "knowingly" transport firearms from the US to Canada... we've talked to most of the majors and they outright refuse to do it. About the only one still willing to do it is Air Canada and their regulations and costs make the process unfeasible.
Because Questar does everything itself "in-house" we can save money and pass those savings on to the consumer... Consumers vastly under estimate the costs involved in processing exports of firearms and accessories from the US to Canada.
Purchasing from the US is not a real option for most Canadian dealers.
Mark
