KETCHIKAN — Canadian officials are asking Alaska residents to leave their guns stateside before traveling.
The Canadian Border Service Agency seized about 300 undeclared firearms from travelers in 2015, with more than half coming from travelers crossing into Canada from Alaska, The Ketchikan Daily News reported (http://bit.ly/1ZfUsOT).
“Many of these travelers faced criminal charges and/or a monetary penalty that could have been avoided by simply declaring the guns,” read an announcement from the agency last week.
Canada’s gun laws are stricter that those of the United States in general and much stricter than Alaska’s laws with most handguns outright prohibited in the country. Canada’s border police require all guns be declared and visitors with allowed weapons must have a “valid purpose” for importing the firearms and have the required paperwork. Valid purposes can include in-season hunting, use in competitions, repair, re-enactments and moving through Canada to another destination.
If import requirements are not met, declared firearms can be seized. In that case a receipt would be issued for the weapon and the carrier given a “reasonable amount of time to present the correct documents to the CBSA.”
