Canada Customs

[Thunderstreak]

Wondering if anyone else has had the same experience with Canada Customs? When I order firearm parts or Milsurp related items from pretty much anywhere outside Canada it gets delivered in a timely fashion. When I order parts from the US, especially Numrich they seem to get held up in Customs every time. My latest order has been in their possession since April 12. Am I just unlucky or is this normal?

[Sapper740]

Sounds pretty normal to me. I believe Canada Customs had been ordered to purposely interfere, drag their feet, and delay as much as possible any order from the U.S. When I lived in Canada I joined the Custer Sportsman's Association in Custer, Washington and was allowed to have mail order items delivered there. I'd pick them up at the next shoot and bring them back to Canada. It was all too easy to get around customs inspections by simply mounting scopes or accessories on my rifle, shotgun or handgun and telling the Customs officer they were already on the firearm when I took them down, if they asked at all. Ammunition and loading components same-same. Sometimes on the weekend of a shoot I'd drive down to Kesselring's Gun store in Burlington and stock up or buy accessories there. Canada Customs wouldn't know whether to shite or go blind if they knew some of the stuff we brought back.

[browningautorifle]

I believe Canada Customs had been ordered to purposely interfere, drag their feet, and delay as much as possible any order from the U.S.

I am in agreement with that assessment.

Sometimes on the weekend of a shoot I'd drive down to Kesselring's Gun store in Burlington and stock up or buy accessories there.

You could find that backfire nowdays. There have been instance of being refused service once they determine you're Canadian, one guy had to bring everything back inside and take a refund.

[ed skeels]

When I lived in Michigan I'd go to the Gibraltar Gun Show (Detroit area). Canadians would frequent the show via the tunnel or Windsor bridge. Canadian customs would tour the parking lot and take down license numbers of the Canadian visitors and give them the works when they stopped in customs on the way home.

[browningautorifle]

Canadian customs would tour the parking lot and take down license numbers of the Canadian visitors and give them the works when they stopped in customs on the way home.

Yes they did. I was from the Windsor area, if you said nothing to declare...stand by to be boarded.

[Sapper740]

October of 2022 Wife and I took a long road trip from Texas to the Upper peninsula of Michigan. We had heard much of the natural beauty of the area and weren't disappointed. Michigan is a beautiful state, anyway, while driving through Sault St. Marie, Michigan we decided to pop over to Sault St. Marie Ontario so I could get a Timmy's fix. We pulled up to Canadian customs and handed over our Canadian passports which were both brand spanking new as we had both recently renewed. The Canada customs agent looked at our license plates, looked at our passports, looked at our license plates again then back to our passports. We heard him say to himself. "Two Texans with brand new Canadian passports?" I responded, "Betcha you don't see that everyday!" then quickly said, "and the answer to your next question is no, we don't have our handguns with us, we left them in the hotel room." "Enjoy your trip!" he cheerily said. Not all Canada customs officers are jerks.

[Brian Dick]

I did firearm import and export work via Port Huron/Sarnia for ten years, 2-4 trips a year depending on how fast I could make the paperwork roll. I did a smaller amount of brokering work for clients up until 2017. Gave up my ITAR registration in 2019. The BIS registration is dormant now. The US CBP and Canada Customs have been working together for years. They've conducted raids on both sides over unregulated parts shipments. A Dentist in Chatham committed suicide because he was carrying shipments via the ferry at Sombra, and the Post Office boxes on the US side got raided by CBP. He was paranoid they were coming for him eventually. The sad part is he hired me to bring stuff one time and it was done legally for $50! After that he opted to accumulate items at his PO Box on the US side and slip them through himself at the ferry crossing. Even shipments of parts and some related items are controlled and require a BIS/Census/CBP registered shipper to acquire an AES ITN in order to legally ship. Postal shipments that lack this number will get hung up and sometimes confiscated. The volume of mail is large, so a lot slips through without issue. That's why many US distributors refuse to send firearms related items. Most aren't registrants with BIS, US Dept. of Commerce and can't be bothered. I could write a book on the experiences. Had great people and not so great people on both sides. By using the same border crossing, at least the agents knew me after so many years which certainly helped a bit.