Rising gun seizures at border crossings prompt concerns about budget and staff cuts

A rise in gun seizures at U.S. border crossings as the federal government cuts the Canada Border Services Agency's budget, has the official Opposition and leaders of the guards' union concerned.

The total number of firearms seized at border crossings spiked last year after years of declining stats and figures for this year so far suggest seizures could again be high, Postmedia News reported.

Border guards confiscated 441 guns last year, compared with 408 in 2010, according to Postmedia News.

By the first six months of 2012, 247 firearms were seized, the highest total since the first half of 2007, when the annual total reached 584 before beginning to decline in the ensuing years.

Gun seizures spiked at B.C. border-crossing points, with 72 firearms confiscated in the first half of the year, compared with 45 in southern Ontario, which is normally a major corridor for illicit guns.

Border guard Lori Bowcock was shot and wounded earlier this month by an American trying to cross into Canada south of Vancouver. The man then killed himself and no motive for the attack has been determined.

[ Related: Shot Canadian border guard to recover, officials say ]

Quebec and the Atlantic provinces have been comparatively quiet, with just five guns seized at Quebec crossings last year, and 112 confiscated at Atlantic border points since 2007, Postmedia News reported.

However, the National Post reported there's a hot spot at Stanstead, Que., which shares the border with neighbouring Derby Line, Vermont.

Last spring, according to the Post, the local library and opera house, which straddles the border, was the scene of a gun-smuggling attempt. A U.S. pair used the building to hand off a bag of handguns in exchange for $18,000 cash. They were arrested on the American side.

Local New Democrat MP Jean Rousseau has called for beefed-up security, noting lax border patrols and shared real estate like the library/opera house have made Stanstead a national security laughing stock, the Post said.

NDP public safety critic Randall Garrison said he's concerned the government is cutting the CBSA's budget and cutting at least 250 employees.

"At the same time, statistics are showing not just an increase in people crossing the border but an increase in firearms seized at the border," he told Postmedia News.

"It's a circle you can't square. Is the public safer when you're cutting the budget for border services when at the same time, firearm seizures at the border are going up?"

Historically, a lot of the guns seized at the border are not being smuggled but belong to otherwise law-abiding Americans who neglect to mention they have them or not understanding their constitutional right to bear arms at home doesn't extend to Canada.

[ Related: 'Honest mistake' lands Utah student in jail for bringing handgun across Canadian border ]

Many of the guns seized at B.C. crossings are in transit to or from Alaska and not intended for the illicit weapons market in Canada, a CBSA spokeswoman told Postmedia News. But that's no excuse for not declaring them.

"The CBSA places a high priority on the detection and interdiction of undeclared firearms and prohibited weapons," said Esme Bailey.

"Canadian firearms laws are clear. All travellers must declare any firearms and weapons in their possession when they enter Canada. Anyone who does not declare them upon arrival can be charged (with) the smuggling or trafficking of firearms into Canada."

Bullet News, serving the Niagara Falls, Ont., area, reported CBSA officers seized 27 guns and other prohibited weapons at southern Ontario crossings in September.

Their catches included a Ohio couple headed for Niagara Falls to celebrate their wedding anniversary who had a prohibited stun gun in their glove compartment and a concealed handgun.

Jason McMichael, first national vice-president of the Customs and Immigration Union, said gun-seizure stats and this month's shooting at the B.C. border justifies the program to arm CBSA officers, which began in 2006.

"The fact that there is such an influx of firearms, both prohibited and restricted, coming across the border, it only makes sense that our folks defending the border should be armed," McMichael told Postmedia News.