The Canada Border Services Agency last year seized twice the number of weapons at border crossings compared to six years ago, according to a CBC News analysis of agency data, but experts fear little progress is being made in stemming the flow of illegal guns into Canada.
The database, obtained by CBC News Network’s Power & Politics through the Access to Information Act, shows that while guns make up about a third of all weapons confiscated by border officials, the seizures only tally in the hundreds annually.
That compares to tens of thousands of illegal guns nabbed in police operations on Canadian streets each year.
For example, in 2011, the CBSA seized 673 guns at ports of entry such as land border crossings, airports, ports and mail centres. By comparison, police seized 33,727 firearms that year, according to Canadian Firearms Program statistics. Many of these illegal firearms are believed to have come from outside the country.
Analysis of the CBSA data shows that switchblades, brass knuckles, tear gas or pepper spray canisters, butterfly knives and stun guns make up the remaining two-thirds of weapons seized at ports of entry.
But police are most concerned about handguns and other illegal firearms entering the country, with entry hotspots being the Vancouver area and southern Ontario, the two regions of the country with the busiest border crossings.
Americans neglect to declare weapons
The CBSA declined to make someone available for an interview, but a spokesperson said in an email to CBC News that most of the guns its officers find belong to Americans who neglected to declare them, not criminals.
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