Because it is far easier to obtain a gun in the US than in Canada. Depending on the firearm desired, Canada requires courses to be taken, paperwork to be filled out, permits to be issued, memberships in gun clubs and recommendations from range officers, and similar hoops to jump through. The idea that Canadians could go to the US, buy a gun without all the above fuss, and bring it home; means that guns would flood across the border. Or, at the very least, end up in the hands of Canadians who perhaps ought not to have them.
As Bryan notes, we do have plenty of guns already, but I’d suggest that the controls that are in place keep firearms out of the hands of those who should not have them, and the misuse of firearms lower than in the US.
I have a few problems with the concept that “guns would flood over the border” due to “opening” the US/Canadian border. (Something I’m not in favor of, by the way.)
Firstly, I contest the notion that tons of Canadians who shouldn’t have guns would suddenly have guns just because the border was opened. Right now it would be laughably easy for a Canadian to drive across the border, buy a gun, and drive it right back over. That’s without doing anything to actively hide the gun. There is a substantial chance you could make that journey and not get caught at all.
If there were so many Canadians who shouldn’t have guns who would suddenly be flooding into the U.S. to buy them and bring them back into Canada then Canada would have a massive market for black market guns. How big is the Canadian market for black market guns? I ask, because if you look down south we have another neighbor with restrictive gun control laws and a massive demand for black market guns. Such a scenario creates “profit incentive” for smuggling, and thus tons of very professional smugglers smuggle guns across the U.S.-Mexican border every year. Some get caught, but most do not, because the border is so large and impossible to patrol effectively. In Canada, where the border is even less secure, we don’t have a lot of major gun smuggling operations (at least that I’ve ever heard.) That suggests to me Canada does not have the same demand for guns that Mexico does.
I’ve already touched on it, but assuming the demand was there and somehow the closed border stops Canada from being flooded with illegal guns just defies logic. The U.S.-Canadian border is not secure enough in its “not fully opened” state to protect Canada or the United States against substantial smuggling. Some smuggling does of course happen, and obviously the border is monitored and guarded but to such a lax degree as to be laughable. The current border situation does absolutely nothing to stop the flow of guns into Canada so I find it ludicrous that liberalizing the border controls would suddenly result in a massive influx of guns.
So basically: 1. I see no evidence of the demand for American guns, 2. No smuggling right now is really going on, 3. The border itself is not well guarded on either side so if smuggling was desired it’d be happening.
[QUOTE=RCMP]
The United States is the primary source for smuggled firearms or firearms parts into Canada – due in part to its close proximity, differences in gun control legislation, and a large firearms manufacturing base. According to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), in 2006, 96 per cent of all firearms seized originated in or transited through the United States. The majority of these seizures occurred at land border ports of entry, and were from private and/or commercial vehicles of legitimate U.S. travelers, especially hunters and truckers, who failed to declare these firearms. In addition, in 2006 there were 32 firearms seized between ports of entry, as compared to 12 in 2005. CBSA also reported a small quantity of guns being smuggled into Canada from various other countries, including Belgium, Switzerland, Georgia and China and Hong Kong.
[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=RCMP]
There continues to be significant cross-border firearms movement, particularly in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic region, where many of the seizures are concentrated.
• In British Columbia, a large number of firearms originate in the United States, with a high proportion coming from Washington State.
•In Alberta, most of these firearms come from Washington State, Idaho and California.
•In Ontario, the I-75 corridor is the main supply vein for illegal firearms from Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Michigan.
•In Quebec, the following states are key sources for illegal firearms: Vermont, New Hampshire and Maryland.
•There is an increasing number of illegal firearms reported being smuggled across the New Brunswick-Maine border, entering the Atlantic region.
Most firearms smuggled from the United States are high quality, semi-automatic handguns. Handguns are reportedly commonly traded for narcotics on the street: the price of the handgun correlates with the current street price for the specific narcotic. “High end” handguns are presently selling on the street for three times the retail price. Fully automatic rifles are also highly sought after firearms. Recent seizures have seen a marked increase in assault rifles and fully automatic submachine guns.
[/QUOTE]
If you were to click the link and scroll down a bit you would see the chart that says the number of guns seized during the first three quarters of 2007 was 3851.
From the previous mentioned link:
The 32 guns you mention were seized between points of entry, just like the quote from Northern Piper says.
I ain’t got time to scroll.
But in any case, there’s been no uptick in gun-related crime in Canada that I’m aware of, and the use of automatic weapons for crime is still vanishingly rare, so if these smuggled weapons are having any effect beyond the satisfaction of the people collecting them, I’m not sure what it is.
And these were the ones who got caught here in southern Alberta, so the current border situation does something, contrary to your assertion. Note that I cannot speak for other parts of Canada. At any rate, there is obviously a demand for firearms that have not been sold through regular channels with all legalities observed.
I think that membership of the EU precludes the UK from agreeing to any other free trade agreements unilaterally. This is one of the biggest bones of contention of British euroskeptics who would want to see much closer integration between the UK and other Anglophone countries on trade, and which they see as an opportunity cost of being an EU member.
Yeah, I know that and should have mentioned it. If we link up with the UK we effectively link up with every country in the EU. And I’m pretty sure Oz and NZ are economically linked to some small Pacific Island nations that we wouldn’t be too keen on, either.
As fore India, it doesn’t matter about the absolute number, but the percentage of English Speakers. And all the other economies I mentioned are developed economies. Mexico is more developed than India is, as a whole.
I don’t think any of the stuff you guys just linked to disproves my assertions. A few thousand guns between a country of 300 million and a country of 30 million is honestly nothing. As one of the cites suggests there are probably far greater smuggling from hunters who forget or fail to declare (and the fact that they admit that pretty much shows it’s not exactly 007 style subterfuge to get a gun across the Canadian border…professional smuggling operations using ATVs on back wood trails would be almost impossible to truly hinder.)
I honestly don’t think you guys have made a compelling argument.
You’ve not shown that there is very significant smuggling now (a little under 4,000 guns.) The fact that some people have been arrested and some guns have been smuggled simply does not prove much of anything. Compare it to Mexico, where the number of smuggled guns is far higher (as are arrests), yet the border arrests on the U.S./Mexico border has done virtually nothing to limit the supply of guns in Mexico.
What is instead obvious to me is there aren’t massive criminal operations or massive demand for black market firearms in Canada. If there was, smuggling would be far more prevalent. The far more draconian border patrols and check points on our southern border have not effectively stopped or even significantly hampered the flow of guns to Mexico, so pointing to a few arrests doesn’t really convince me at all that if tons of people wanted guns in Canada they couldn’t be getting them already.
I suspect this is because (luckily for Canada) you don’t have massive criminal operations. The legitimate gun owners of Canada have means of getting them, and little desire or need to smuggle them in.
Actually, on serious further reflection, my biggest concern about greater financial integration is that our stable reliable banking system could get fucked up by the Americans’ wild-west version, which is prone (indeed eager) to destroy itself every 25 years. We could end up being the sane Germany to your spendthrift Greece, and we don’t have nearly enough money to save you from yourselves.
Er, um, because we don’t allow guns in the hands of every citizen, and we keep our border closed to an influx from the Land Of The Armed. The point is, our gun controls, a feature of Canadian living that Canadian’s value very highly, would become next to useless will a fully open border.
Plus, what if we legalize marijuana? Still want that open border? How you gonna sell that in American politics?
Canadians would stock up on booze and smokes in the U.S. since they cost considerably less.
The Canadian government wouldn’t be too keen on losing that tax revenue.