My nephew is driving from Seattle to Anchorage, which will mean driving thru Canada. I found this, which gives a pretty good amount of info. Is there more that he should know about?
http://gocanada.about.com/cs/bordercrossing/a/big_little_guns.htm
Here’s what the Canadian Firearms Centre, the federal agency responsible for enforcing the firearms laws, says on this issue, with phone numbers to call if you want more information: Firearm Owners Visiting Canada.
In addition to the paperwork needed to bring a firearm into Canada, he should make sure he understands the rules for transporting firearms in a motor vehicle, since unsafe transportation in a motor vehicle is a federal offence. He should also find out about the laws governing carrying a firearm. Pistols are regulated much more strictly than long guns, with any sort of carrying heavily restricted. Best to check it all out well before he passes through.
It’s easier to just ship the firearm to Anchorage by UPS or FedEx. I tried to follow the rules when I moved from Anchorage back to SoCal, but in the end I just shipped the guns rather than go through the hassle at the border.
silenius’s apporach strikes me as a good idea, especially if your nephew is just travelling through (say, under a week to go from Seattle to Alaska). From my limited experience with this topic, I’ve got the impression that the paperwork is very cumbersome.
I’d be very careful if you are considering Fedexing firearms into Canada.
Carriers will require you to fill out the same paperwork in order to comply with the law, and if their terms of service even permit transport of firearms (many specifically prohibit them) if you fail to accurately identify the contents of the package, you risk having your property held or returned to the point of origin. (I’ve had this experience with Purolator, which will not transport firearms at all, even within Canada.)
You’re probably better off to take the time to make sure you’re complying with the law.
I’m not sure that Fedexing a firearm from the lower 48 to Alaska would require any Canadian paperwork at all. Maybe if it’s shipped by ground, but if it’s air freight I don’t see why it would.
:smack: Somehow, by the time I go to the bottom of the page, I was thinking that we were talking about a vacation within Canada. How embarrassing.
I don’t know about FedEx, but I’ve had firearms in the past shipped by both UPS and USPS, and neither of them has any policy I know of prohibiting firearms.
Ammunition, on the other hand, is a different matter, and is absolutely verboten in the USPS. UPS ships it, but with some ORM-D warning sitckers, and probably some paperwork to go along with it.