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A US Army retired Seegeant Major whose GPS took his and his wife the wrong route and onto a Canadaian Border post has been jailed and could face 3 years in prison for a bogus charge of arms smuggling.

All he wanted to do after telling the agent he and his wife made a mistake and took a wrong turn on their way to Vermont, was to turn around and they were denied the option.

http://articles.latimes.com/2014/feb/03/nation/la-na-canada-border-guns-20140203

I thought borders don't matter?? What's their dealio...

Might as well as boycott Canadian Maple Syrup.

Canada has the sovereign right to protect their strategic maple reserves.

Also, hockey sucks. If it's not Women's Beach Volleyball, then it doesn't belong on TV.

I want a WBV channel.

That's pretty forgetful of him. I think if I owned a firearm, I'd be aware of it's location at any given time. Doubly so if I had such proclaimed respect for weapons.

Johnnytorrance wrote:
A US Army retired Seegeant Major whose GPS took his and his wife the wrong route and onto a Canadaian Border post has been jailed and could face 3 years in prison for a bogus charge of arms smuggling.

All he wanted to do after telling the agent he and his wife made a mistake and took a wrong turn on their way to Vermont, was to turn around and they were denied the option.

http://articles.latimes.com/2014/feb/03/nation/la-na-canada-border-guns-20140203

Was the Canadian armed? If not they're not committing a crime in the US if...

Living on the southern border, the view was always "get back across no matter how" if things happened. Clearly he should have followed that as well.

Blame Canada.

 Frazzled wrote:

Johnnytorrance wrote:
A US Army retired Seegeant Major whose GPS took his and his wife the wrong route and onto a Canadaian Border post has been jailed and could face 3 years in prison for a bogus charge of arms smuggling.

All he wanted to do after telling the agent he and his wife made a mistake and took a wrong turn on their way to Vermont, was to turn around and they were denied the option.

http://articles.latimes.com/2014/feb/03/nation/la-na-canada-border-guns-20140203

Was the Canadian armed? If not they're not committing a crime in the US if...

Living on the southern border, the view was always "get back across no matter how" if things happened. Clearly he should have followed that as well.

What?

He politely asked the Agent if they could just turn around. It's obviously a mistake on his part. If this is how Canadians want to be treated I have no issue being a jerk to anyone

I think Frazz is saying that, if things begin to look unfavorable, you get across the border and only THEN worry about being polite.

 daedalus wrote:
I think Frazz is saying that, if things begin to look unfavorable, you get across the border and only THEN worry about being polite.

First part yes. Neanderthals NEVER worry about being polite.

My point was, unless he was armed and I have the means me and the family aren't getting trapped across the border. Running the border is a time honored tradition here. Conclude from that what you may.

I thought you believed in 'my house, my rules' Fraz?

 SilverMK2 wrote:
I thought you believed in 'my house, my rules' Fraz?

Oh he does. But Frazzled also believes in self help.

Doesn't the army teach the difference between North and South? Shouldn't he be literate enough to read signposts?

 Mr. Burning wrote:
Doesn't the army teach the difference between North and South? Shouldn't he be literate enough to read signposts?

Its the surplus "u"s they use that throw us.

I dont get why you're boycotting hockey... in any case, while I'm sad to see this happened, at the same time he did violate a law.

Johnnytorrance wrote:
for a bogus charge of arms smuggling.

"When a border official asked whether he had any weapons, he said no."
"...had forgotten he had stowed his Bersa .380 handgun in the center console days earlier."
"A search turned up the gun"

Going to another country with an undeclared gun is not a good idear. Even if the "going to another country" was a mistake.

A judge will probably send the men home.

until this outrage is over, we should force Canada to take back Justin Bieber.

 Frazzled wrote:
until this outrage is over, we should force Canada to take back Justin Bieber.

Uh... we lost fair and square Frazzled. Canada won the gold... we keep the fools gold in Bieber.

No take backs.

No way. In the words of the immortal bard:

Sorry.

this actually happens quite often... a few times a year at LEAST....

 easysauce wrote:
this actually happens quite often... a few times a year at LEAST....

You mean invasions by Justin Bieber?

I hear he's selling his house to the Kardashians. I don't if I should rejoice or recoil in horror.

no, people who go on the wrong road (especially at the closer crossings around detroit and ontario) are forced to go through customs before they turn around.


happens a lot...

remember owning a gun is ILLEGAL and makes you a criminal up here, they really lay the book on you even if you are someone permitted to break the law with a permit to own guns, let alone when you have no permit to break the law.

Owning a gun is legal up here, with the proper permits. Those permits must be issued by the government of Canada.

Had he declared the gun he could have gotten a 60 day permit for it (mentioned in the article if you read it).

A similar incident at the US border would see he gun confiscated automatically. The person then may be allowed to return to their point of origin at the descretion of the agent. Canadian policy does not permit the agent to have that discretion in these cases.

Final note, the way the crossings work up there, you are actually well onto Canadian territory before you go through the customs, so you have brought the item onto Canadian soil. In order to successfully turn around and go back, you must pass through the check point - or make a dash head through head on traffic on a bridge that is a traffic jam basically 24-7-365.