Canadian border shut down

[hencole]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3494819.stm

The reason they shut the border down was because a woman was looking for Vancouver in the United States got lost and went over the Canadian border. Fine. However she was in the possesion of a handgrenade so was stopped. She was released when it came to light she was completely lost. This statement however worries me

As for the hand grenade, police say, the woman had no idea it was in her vehicle.

It probably belongs to her husband, who reportedly works for the US military.

It PROBABLY belongs to her husband so we let her go. In otherwords they closed down the entire US /Canadian border, but reopened it again without being arsed to check her story out. Just goes to show how fucking useless the security services are on the otherside of the pond. I'm not going to even question the sanity of two countires that  seem to think that carrying a handgrenade around is an acceptable thing to do.
'Oh sorry Miss, if we'd known it was your husbands we wouldn't have stopped you, but hey we have to be careful as women can't throw straight'

[smoker]

how do they shut down the border anyway? can't people just go a mile further down the road and avoid the checkpoint? it's not like there's a great big wall or anything

[Pinball]

Government's futile attempt at control. More psychological than reality.

[smoker]

Government's futile attempt at control. More psychological than reality.

i see. so they announce the border is closed and 90% of people would turn back, only the really determined people <the terrorists> would not be deterred and find another route. good plan

[Timmay]

how do they shut down the border anyway? can't people just go a mile further down the road and avoid the checkpoint? it's not like there's a great big wall or anything

No, there's a picket fence running along it. Bit like this...

[23 Daves]

A friend of my girlfriend's works on the Canadian border, and apparently Americans try to smuggle weapons across it all the time thinking it's 'allowed'.  They can be caught out with the simple series of questions:

"What are you up to then?  Doing some hunting?"
"Yep, that's right, for the weekend".
"Got any weapons with you?"
"Yep!  These should do us!"
"Right, step out of the car please".

The Americans apparently then often start ranting about their 'constitutional rights' only to be told "You're in another country now, sir, they stopped back there" (pointing at border).  They then scream and shout some more.

Don't ask me what the Candian rules on gun ownership are, though, or the levels of it, because I just don't know.

[Timmay]

Don't ask me what the Candian rules on gun ownership are, though, or the levels of it, because I just don't know.

Bowling for Columbine did go through the details, but I cannae remember now. I think it might have been that gun law and ownership is in a similar position to the US itself, but gun crime and murder rates are as low as in the UK. Possibly.

[hencole]

Canadians have the more arms per person than the US.

[hoverdonkey]

Don't ask me what the Candian rules on gun ownership are, though, or the levels of it, because I just don't know.

Bowling for Columbine did go through the details, but I cannae remember now. I think it might have been that gun law and ownership is in a similar position to the US itself, but gun crime and murder rates are as low as in the UK. Possibly.

Yes. Two cities divided by a stretch of water on the border - both full of guns but the Canadian one had a fraction of the murder rate of the American city.  Can't remember which city exactly, think it was in the Detroit area.

[TOCMFIC]

Don't ask me what the Candian rules on gun ownership are, though, or the levels of it, because I just don't know.

Bowling for Columbine did go through the details, but I cannae remember now. I think it might have been that gun law and ownership is in a similar position to the US itself, but gun crime and murder rates are as low as in the UK. Possibly.

Speaking as someone who lives here, yes,the gun laws are mostly the same as the US I think, but gun crime is rare here. In fact the only two murders  can think of right now (and one of these was 6 years ago) were stabbings. Outside of gang related stuff in Vancouver and the like, I don't recall hearing of a shooting death very often at all. It's certainly no worse than England. Crime in general is lower here.

Bowling for Columbine was very accurate in it's portrayal of Canada.

[Purple Tentacle]

Would I be right in guessing that HANDGUN ownership is far far smaller than the US, that the Canadians tend to favour hunting rifles?

Or am I wrong?

[chand]

It PROBABLY belongs to her husband so we let her go. In otherwords they closed down the entire US /Canadian border, but reopened it again without being arsed to check her story out.

It's odd though, I suspect if it was a Muslim man with a hand grenade he might have more trouble finding some credibility.

[Some Herbert]

Yes. Two cities divided by a stretch of water on the border - both full of guns but the Canadian one had a fraction of the murder rate of the American city.  Can't remember which city exactly, think it was in the Detroit area.

Windsor is the city just over the river from Detroit.

[european son]

Canadians have the more arms per person than the US.

your average Canadian?

[Ambient Sheep]

The Americans apparently then often start ranting about their 'constitutional rights' only to be told "You're in another country now, sir, they stopped back there" (pointing at border).  They then scream and shout some more.

:-)  Lovely!

[Capuchin]

That's what I'd like to see on You've Been Framed.

[TOCMFIC]

Would I be right in guessing that HANDGUN ownership is far far smaller than the US, that the Canadians tend to favour hunting rifles?

Or am I wrong?

You would be correct. In fact the only guns I've seen for sale here pretty much are rifles. I've not seen any handguns or automatic weapons. Sure, you can probably get them, but the fact is the majority of guns in Canada are used for hunting.

The key difference in the Canada from the US? As far as I'm aware, there is nothing in Canada that guarantees the right to bear arms.... And shooting deaths in Canada are extremely rare.

The US are just fucking insane. As Dennis Miller said (before he turned to evil), the US constitution is a "200 year old to-do list".

[Pinball]

As Dennis Miller said (before he turned to evil), the US constitution is a "200 year old to-do list".

Nice quote! What's happened to Dennis Miller though, please elaborate ;-)