Unless they have changed the rules of Vehicle Inspection, before entry - Lock them in the Glove-box, don't declare and don't display. We have driven into Canada numerous times, and have never been asked about firearms. Upon your return to the States they'll ask to see your passport.
We are flying from Boise to Vancouver, and renting an SUV to travel up to Whistler. I'll visit an extended Cousin in Vancouver on Sunday before flying back to Boise. What type of vehicle will you be camping in, I'll try to find you. David
You could have been trying to illustrate
Cunningham's Law here, as I see a lot of people have jumped on this and I hate to add to it, but I don't think those have ever been the rules, at least not since I have memory of crossing the border (early 1990s). It may have been what folks used to get away with, but in this day and age that is a risky game of roulette and I'd encourage everyone to not to do that today. Canada and the USA are very similar in a lot of ways, but the attitude towards Firearms is NOT one of those ways. I do not wish to start a political debate on this as I think Overlanding has lots of room for perspectives for and against firearms ownership (perspectives that are unlikely to change!), but I will tell readers a bit about our legislation so that folks can understand just how different it is up here.
- To own a firearm in Canada, you need a federal license. This license requires you to accept that the police will search you in a criminal activity database every single day for the rest of your life. If anything is flagged, your license can be revoked and all firearms confiscated. This basic license is for owning guns typical of hunting -- rifles and shotguns only -- and most rifles are limited to 5 rounds in a magazine. Some rifles are prohibited (You can't own them at all) or restricted (like the AR-15). All pistols are either restricted or prohibited, regardless of caliber. If you own a firearm that is not reflected on your license, you go to jail.
- To own pistols (or AR-15 or any other 'restricted' class of firearm) in Canada, you need a special class of license. These are known as 'restricted' firearms. If you have a restricted weapon without the right license, you go to jail.
- Under new legislation, the government will be able to demand access to your entire life history - mental health, jobs, education, ex-lovers, etc. -- in order to decide if you meet their criteria to own a firearm. They used to look into all of that stuff anyway, but only up to the last 5 years. If you lie to them or withhold information, you could go to jail.
- Part of having a license includes safe storage of firearms in the home and during transport. They can never be loaded, always have to be locked in various ways, etc. depending on the class of firearm. If you are found not following these rules, you could go to jail.
- With either license, at any time the police can ask to inspect your firearms. This does not require a warrant or probable cause, just a knock on your door. If you deny them access, you will be arrested and you have just given them probable cause to tear the walls of your house open to see if you are hiding anything. Even if they find nothing, by denying them access you could go to jail.
- Under the law, you can only use restricted firearms at a designated range. You cannot even shoot your own pistols on your own property, even if you have a thousand acres to do it in. You can only bring your restricted firearms to and from the range in the most direct route possible. If you need to go anywhere else, you need to apply for a special permit to transport it for a specific date and location. And if you take an indirect route, say swing by a buddy's place to pick him up for the ride, you've just broken the law and...say it with me now....you go to jail.
- If you use your firearm in self defence you will go to jail, probably. In fact, recently in a case where that didn't happen, it was such an unusual event that the prime minister went on record saying that the system was broken -- that's the gun culture in Canada. So if this happens to you, and you shoot someone....you go to jail.
And for laughs, yes it reminds me of this guy from Parks and Rec:
There are many more details and restrictions, but above applies to Canadian citizens who are protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Our version of the Bill of Rights). As an American at the border, you have no rights at all. You will not simply be turned back as a "oopsie, won't do that again" -- if you are talking to a Canadian border officer, you are on Canadian soil. If caught, you will likely be arrested and charged with smuggling firearms across the border and you will likely face jail time. Even if they only suspect shenanigans, they may strip apart your vehicle looking for other weapons -- including all those fancy aftermarket mods and lift kits you made to your prized Overlanding rig -- leaving you and your bush toolkit to reassemble it all in the parking lot. And there is nothing you can do to stop that. Trying to stop them means....you go to jail!
In addition, you may find that you are never allowed to enter Canada again in the future. That is just the day-of the accidental smuggling attempt; who knows how long they detain you or how much you'd have to sink into court fees, legal costs, etc. just to bring a hunk of metal to the bush. And even if you are 'not guilty', you'll never freely cross the border again to any NATO democracy, thanks to the Five I's sharing information about the citizenry. You may be innocuously going on holiday 40 years from now, and what would normally be a 10 minute customs process can turn into a 'refusal of entry' or a delay of days. Not worth it just to bring a gun, I don't think.
And with all that being said, you won't need a gun here. Canada is an incredibly safe country and predators of all kinds are more effectively dealt with via a can of bear spray than they are with a gun. Caveat Emptor though -- using bear spray on a human turns it into a prohibited device, but it's legal in Canada for use against critters. I would wager that if you are in a situation where a gun would truly make a difference, the use of the spray is likely to be considered "reasonable force" and thus allowed in our self defence laws.
I have never had a problem with people in the backcountry in Canada, but I can see the concern because I have had run-ins regularly in the Lower 48. My theory is that most of the 'remote' places in the USA aren't really that remote - they are only ever 150 miles from a McDonalds, which means they are always reasonably close to a city. That combined with the 10x the population down there means a lot of the troubling backcountry behaviour is drugs or similar criminality -- Walter White Wannabes head to the nearest state forest to cook up some meth, so when Joe Overlander goes to get a cool shot for his Insta account, he ends up tangling with them and as they protect their cooking spot. You won't find much of that in Canada outside of the lower mainland of BC, southern Ontario, and small parts of Quebec, and the majority of it is marijuana which is less of an issue since legalization.
www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca
