Well ... Whoops!

By all means, do not venture to the dark north.

"It was an honest mistake. There's not even a traffic ticket in my background. Why would I come to Canada to bring a small weapon to smuggle in?"
Louis DeNatale, retired U.S. Army Sgt.Maj.

Louis DiNatale

'Small weapon'? So small that he forgot its presence in the vehicle he was driving. He had placed it there, but overlooked its presence. Mr. DiNatale works as a paralegal for the U.S. army Corps of Engineers. He must, obviously, know that laws are there for a reason. Because they are the law of the land they are to be recognized and care taken to obey them. The result of law-breaking is usually some kind of penalty. Mr. DiNatale had a taste of the penalty when he spent a few days in prison. More may await him.

News of this man's misfortune, due entirely to his own neglect and possible contempt for the laws of a foreign country have reached the greater American public. And those who have seen fit to make their feelings known about the situation have been rather up front and succinct: "Screw Canada".

It's kind of how an elderly Canadian couple might feel, heading to one of the New England states for a vacation stay when they're asked if they have anything to declare and the border agent decides to look anyway and finds two mandarin oranges packed for their lunch.

As the elderly woman protests that they are stopping just a mile away at a rest stop and the oranges, from California, but purchased in Canada, will be eaten there, the border agent leers at her, shoves his hand into the lunch bucket and drops the two offending fruits into a nearby garbage bin. Confiscated.

That's when the woman angrily says through gritted teeth to her husband as they drive away with a warning that such illegal infractions might cost them mightily in hefty fines and even jail time next time around: "Screw the U.S.".

Oranges? Firearms?

Mr. DiNatale is extremely agitated and perplexed. What did he do? Wrong, that is? He hadn't even meant to enter Canada. He and his wife were headed to an entirely different destination, in the United States, as it happens. They went off course, because of a GPS malfunction, he declared. And found themselves in Canada.

The National Rifle Association has taken huge umbrage, and with alacrity posted the story on their website, just to demonstrate how backward and repressive Canadian law is.

The Canada Border Services Agency has a website too. On that website is the clear statement that visitors to the country must declare all firearms when entering the country. Given the gun culture south of the border, "it's not beyond the realm of possibility that someone would forget a gun in their car", protested Mr. DiNatale's Ottawa lawyer. Yes, yes indeed.

"Why did they not just turn him around at the border? Or take the gun and allow him to turn around and go back" one commenter wrote on the website guns.com. "Does one show respect for weapons by forgetting where they put them? I don't think so", someone else countered.

Mr. DiNatale explained that he normally carries his Bersa .380 handgun for self-defence. Very impressive, a citizen of a country that has more circulating weapons than any other in the world, more prisoners under barred lock-and-key, and more murders than most other civilized countries, feels it imperative that he carry a lethal weapon to defend himself with.

Against whom, and what? His fellow citizens? Presumably, American law and order is in good health, and there are police detachments where they should be...? On the other hand, with all those circulating weapons, the urge to use them by both the good guys and the bad guys must be intensely competitive.

The two Americans were headed for a resort called, oh dear, Smugglers' Notch, located in Vermont. But they drove instead toward the Thousand Islands Bridge headed for Canada. Perhaps neither man nor wife can read. Signage is present to alert people, even if they aren't aware where they are headed. Welcome to Canada.  

"My GPS didn't say 'You're entering another country'", complained Mr. DiNatale.

A view of the Canadian side of the Thousand Islands Bridge from an observation tower just before the border crossing. Photo: Ad Meskens

They had no passports in their possession; in fact a minuscule number of Americans possess passports. He claims to have shown the border officer interrogating them, their reservations for Smugglers' Notch, Vermont. He was asked the usual questions, including whether he was in possession of firearms. Because, it would appear his license to carry a concealed weapon alerted the CBS officer; no, he said, he did not have a gun with him.

When, later, he was asked why he responded untruthfully to the query, he said it was because he knew that gun possession could be an issue when crossing into Canada. Well, oops! He and his wife were asked to wait inside the customs building so officers could search the car. What a surprise; several returned with their own guns drawn, prepared to take the couple into custody.

While his wife was released in a few  hours' time, Mr. DiNatale who knew he should have declared his gun, knew of Canadian laws and presumably the reason for them, but obviously didn't agree, was charged with three customs act offences and two weapons offences. And allowed to remain in custody for four days before being released on bail.

He is due back in court in June. And he wants to know, why would he put the gun in such an "obvious" spot as the glove compartment of a vehicle he and his wife owned, if his intention was to smuggle it into the country. Well, Mr. DiNatale, that's just the way it is; honesty is always the best policy.

And that elderly woman on her way to a vacation spot from Ontario to New Hampshire still gets ticked off every time she recalls the insolent arrogance and wretched humour of the border agent who took such obvious pleasure in appropriating part of the lunch she and her husband were looking forward to sharing two minutes' on from the border.

That's the honest truth.