Unlike many of its Canadian cousins, the Cornwall international border crossing has had two recorded firearm seizures in the past three-and-a-half years, but firearms smuggled from the U. S. into Canada at other locales have been more frequent, according to the RCMP.
A report from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) covering says most firearms seized belong to average law-abiding citizens.
The majority of those seizures were made at British Columbia crossings, along with many at Niagara Falls and Fort Erie, Ont.
"Most of the firearms seized by CBSA at the land ports of entry are the personal firearms of legitimate U. S. travellers who neglected -- intentionally or not -- to declare their personal firearms," says the agency's strategic intelligence analysis division in an undated report covering the 2004-2006 period.
The report states that of the 662 guns seized by CBSA last year, three-quarters of them were handguns. Between 2004 and 2007, the agency confiscated 2,289 guns.
"While uncommon, we have seized handguns that are linked to (the) illicit firearms market with an organized-crime connection," the agency intelligence report says.
RCMP Sgt. Michael Harvey of the Cornwall detachment pointed out, however, that the "lucrative" contraband tobacco trade between the U. S. and Canada is sometimes used to finance drug trafficking and firearm smuggling.
CBSA spokesman Chris Kealy said that regardless of any intent to smuggle guns or forgetting to declare them, it is the owner's responsibility to declare any firearms in a vehicle crossing the border.
"Forgetting is not an excuse," Kealy said. "The onus is on them. We don't give them a warning, and say next time you better remember."
Kealy pointed out that although there have been only two firearms seized at the Cornwall border crossing since Jan. 1, 2005, CBSA has made 35 seizures of other weapons such as switch blades, crossbows, brass knuckles and tear gas, among many others.
"Those are just the highlights," Kealy said. "You'd be surprised what people try to get across the border."
How the border agents handle each case depends on what they find and a certain amount of judgment and discretion.
"It's difficult to know what intent people have," Kealy said. "They may appear to be above board, but you never know for sure."
Most seizures result in a fine at least, confiscation of the firearm and, in some cases, a criminal code charge.
Harvey said people caught smuggling contraband cigarettes from the U. S. are rarely ever caught with guns as well. In fact, he cited only one case from the past six years in which a cigarette runner possessed a loaded, unregistered handgun.
However, Harvey noted the RCMP more frequently seizes guns -- often traced to the U. S. -- at the residences of smugglers with the co-operation of Akwesasne Mohawk Police.
Most recently, in late March 2008, the Aboriginal Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, with help from the RCMP, Surete du Quebec, the U. S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the OPP, arrested 30 suspects on both sides of the border allegedly connected to a marijuana trafficking and U. S. export operation in Kahnawake, Akwesasne and Kanesetake as a result of Operation Cancun.
The busts, executed by 300 police officers, involved the seizure of several firearms, including two AK-47 rifles, two M-16 machine guns and three grenade launchers.
Seizures of this nature usually result from 14-to 18-month operations, according to Harvey. Nine firearms were seized during the final round-up of Project Bluette in November 2006.
(With CP files)