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Taking a firearm to another country requires extensive paperwork well before the trip. It always requires a sporting or cultural purpose such as a museum exhibition. Some countries, like the UK and Ireland, completely prohibit import and possession of handguns.

I know a guy who is a Civil War cavalry re-enactor. He had to jump through hoops to take black-powder weapons to Canada for a re-enactment.

Even shooting borrowed firearms while in another country often requires advance paperwork.

There is scuttlebutt that the Canadian inspectors regard cars from certain states with suspicion, so make sure you don't have a loose shell floating around in the back. I don't know for a fact that this is true.

- Jim

Just a story - anecdotal evidence about Canadian border guards.

A few years ago, a colleague from work went to Canada for vacation. Like me, he is not a Native Texan - he is from Pittsburgh and sounds like it. He is not a shooter and owns no guns at all.

At the Canadian border they saw his Texas license plates and Texas driver's license and, according to him, gave him quite a hard time about where "the gun" was stashed in his car. They would not / did not believe there was no gun, and threatened to take the car apart to look for it unless he surrendered it. He insisted he had no gun and eventually they relented and let him in.

I claim I would have turned right around and left, and written to their superiors about their unprofessional behavior, but can not be sure. Alone, yes - I would never have been there in the first place. If my wife were with me and she really wanted to go to Canada, I'd probably swallow my indignation and proceed.

Maybe things have changed, this was 3 or 4 years ago.

Why in the world would anyone want to go to Canada?

Just go to Montana, it is closer.

Purplehood wrote:Why in the world would anyone want to go to Canada?

Business, for one thing.

- Jim

The paperwork and time and effort to take a firearm to another country legally will depend on the country. If it's even legal. US law applies in the US. Mexican law applies in Mexico. Japanese law applies in Japan. South African law applies in South Africa.

Make sure you register your firearm with Customs before you leave so you can bring it back into the USA!

For Canada:

http://www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca/factsheets/visitin_e.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I've traveled to South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia with firearms. The least issues were encountered in South Africa, though now I understand since I was there "majority rule" has made firearms laws more burdensome. Bureaucratic issues surfaced in Zambia and intemediate stops in both Britain and Germany, but those were minor. And of course, expect US customs inspectors to ask questions. (I DID resent being questioned by a US Customs employee who barely spoke English. )

boomerang wrote:Make sure you register your firearm with Customs before you leave so you can bring it back into the USA!

This I did - it requires a trip to your local US Customs office, where you fill out a form and a customs inspector signs it, to prove you had the firearms before you left. (You keep the form yourself.) Each time, I had to show my form . . . but I never had to open my gun case.

Purplehood wrote:Why in the world would anyone want to go to Canada?

Just go to Montana, it is closer.

Its between here and Alaska.

I drove to montreal canada by way of Michigan,I dropped my concealed carry 45 at a place for safe keeping just before crossing,they saw my tx tag and asked if i had any guns,I said yup up until about 5 minutes ago,then they did a quick glance in my rolled down windows and I waslet in,on the way back I was asked if I had any firearms,somebody said look at his tag of course he does,I said not yet but I'll be picking it up in about 5 minutes.He said so how many guns can you buy in Texas ,I said all I can afford and I told him Approximately how many I had. I was never searched either time but I have heard horror stories about NRA or hunting stickers on vehicles

I have taken my shotguns to Argentina a couple of times. The cusotom's forms are required to regain entry to the US with your firearms. Argentinian paperwork was completed before the trips and we had no issues entering the country with the exception of the fees (bribes) to their customs officials. On return from the last trip we made a lay over in Santiago Chile and were required to meet the Federal Police on the ramp for weapons inspections. This was kind of unnerving because the police looked to be 16 years old and carried fully auto weapons. The inspection, however, went without incidence.

BobCat wrote:At the Canadian border they saw his Texas license plates and Texas driver's license and, according to him, gave him quite a hard time about where "the gun" was stashed in his car.

Same thing happened to my father-in-law. He's pretty anti-gun, so he certainly didn't have anything.

I told him I probably didn't help the perception. I was at Bass Pro Shop looking at the handgun counter one time and a middle-aged couple from Canada struck up a conversation with me. The husband pointed at a row of handguns and said, "I know about hunting rifles and shotguns, but what do you shoot with those?" I didn't even look up as I replied, "People."

As funny as I thought it would've been to leave it at that, I decided to be an ambassador and explain the concept that criminals in every country have guns, so we think it's responsible for law abiding citizens to be able to protect their own life when threatened or attacked by a bad guy. I think he left seeing a level-headed, reasonable, responsible approach to gun ownership even if he didn't agree.

I would have figured it would be fairly easy to get a long gun into canada, who knew. I knew they were bad about handguns though. A tip for anyone traveling to Canada that my CHL instructor told us: a lot of the police stations on this side of the border will allow you to store a handgun in a locker while you are in Canada.

sbb wrote: . . . On return from the last trip we made a lay over in Santiago Chile and were required to meet the Federal Police on the ramp for weapons inspections. This was kind of unnerving because the police looked to be 16 years old and carried fully auto weapons.

Once I was returning from Africa via Frankfurt, and for some reason they wanted me to show that my guns were unloaded - not at check-in, but at the gate.

So I met a security agent there and we went down to the tarmac below the aircraft and I opened my case . . . he was intrigued by the polymer stock, and asked if he could look at the rifle. I agreed - what am I going to do - refuse?

So the Frankfurt security agent proceeds to peer through the 'scope at the control tower . . . at baggage trains . . . taxiing aircraft . . .

He then did the same with my 'scoped Redhawk.

About that time, I looked up at the gate and saw about 100 people with their noses pressed against the glass, looking down at us.

Well, I locked up my gun case, the security agent put it on the plane, and I went back up to the gate area.

People were staring at me . . . and a little old lady took me by the arm and said "I feel safer with you on the plane."

Of course, if there WERE a hijacking, I would have been the VERY FIRST target . . . which is funny now, but it really wasn't so funny then.

Great story, HankB!

My law teacher told a good one to get slightly off topic since no real guns are in the story.

While crossing the border in to French Canada my instructor's father was driving. When the Canadian border agent asked if there were and firearms in the vehicle his father replied in a very honest tone "no, well except him". He continued "he is considered a weapon he kills people for money, but don't worry he only kills French people, there aren't any French people around are there?" After separating and interrogating them for over an hour they were finally let go. On the way back my instructor decided to drive with simple no and yes answers they had no problems.

Moral of the story keep your mouth shut and don't try to joke with the border patrol agents.