importing Dewats from US
 

Is there any way to get a deactivated Bren Gun into Canada from the US? They seem a lot less expensive there than here!

The problem I see is that if it was deactivated outside of Canada as soon as it hits customs at the border it is considered a functioning Automatic weapon. Untill it is verified by the Canadian government that it is indeed deactivated. So unless you have a granfathered permit you loose it.

If you dont declare it and try smuggling it accross the border it you risk loosing your vehicle not to mention the host of other problems that would cause!

If you are talking about it coming from the US, I would say no way. Below are a list of some of the problems.

1: A "dewat" in the US generally has a newly made solid receiver. That would be considered a replica here in Canada and their import is prohibited.

2: If it is a true "dewat" with an original receiver in the US, then it would have to have been registered back in the 1968 amnesty in order to be legal. These are still considered as full auto transferable guns, and can be reversed back into a working gun legally in the US. As a result they are very expensive if properly registered. If it is not properly registered, it would be very dangerous to have in the US as it could cost you your freedom.

3: The US state department would have to approve the export of non-sporting firearms. They generally do not if it is to other than a military museum or a government military or police force.

4: The points you list are also both valid. The import of dewats from outside Canada has been turned into an impossible catch-22. They want them imported as if they were working, and then verified as deactivated, but you cannot import a non-grandfathered full auto for the purpose of deactivation. There are reasons that a business can bring in full auto guns (ie movie, government, museum) but deactivation is not a legal reason.

The days of importing deactivated Brens into Canada are long over. We will have to be satisfied with what is here now.

I have to shake my head at times. In Great Britain where to my understanding firearms are very difficult to obtain, Deactivated automatic weapons are freely sold. Just do a quick search in Google and see.

In the US they where firearms flourish, Deactivated automatics are still easily and cheaply obtianed.

But in Canada where we have a plethora of laws in the way we store and handle firearms and can legaly collect/own most firearms, deactivated automatic weapons,(not even considered a firearm) it is extremely difficult to find one let alone in a reasonable condition. And goodness gracious what if it was never a fire arm but looked like one!

Aparantly not that long ago it was relatively easy to obtain from the UK and the States. Were they a problem? I never heard of any! Oh well I will keep looking!

(Sorry about the rant. :confused , sometimes stupiity doesthat to me)

I think that says more about the Canadian gun culture that prefers its guns live and unneutered. There are few deactivated guns because few owners want to defile a good one. Why turn a $$$$ gun into a $$$ deact unless you absolutely have no other choice to own or keep it?

The rules for deactivation in Canada are more about controlling the existing "inventory" of privately owned firearms. Nothing new into the country that isn't already known or registered. The feds must have winced and cringed when the containers of welded and nipped whatevers arrived two decades ago. They knew full well that criminally minded boys would be boys and de-deactivate whatever they could, and use them illegally. Let's not forget the FLQ Crisis was part of the formative experiences of many politicians and police who were in power when the last batch of laws were written. And then the Mohawk Warriors burst on the scene. They raised the national blood pressure with mostly legal guns too.

We also prefer our firearms live and functional here. But there are plenty of live fully automatic weapons in the USA.

The vast majority of demilled/dummy/display weapons that are in the USA originated as parts kits that were imported into the country. They were not live machine guns that were demilled here because people preferred non-functional examples. But they did start out as surplus functional weapons in other countries and were chopped up so that they could be legally imported into the country due to restrictions related to registration with ATF for Class III devices and that no new examples can be produced since 1986 for private ownership.

Sad to think about all the full auto Brens and Stens sitting in India or some other country that wanted to dump them and upgrade their arsenal. As a parts kit, they sold here for $150-300 until recently. Imagine how cheap they started out when live since someone had to demill them and then import them into the USA where they sold them at a profit.

Comparative gun cultures
 

It's rather odd to hear one speak of the "Canadian Gun Culture" after hearing Canadians decry the American Gun Culture for decades. I've spent 47 years in Canada and 10 in the U.S. and I'll take the freedoms I've enjoyed in Texas any day over the repressive and outright silly rules and regulations in Canada. I was there in the forefront of the battle with the likes of Kim Campbell and Alan Rock (both former Justice Ministers) who kept telling we in the nascent RFOC that they knew what was best for Canada. There are far more live historical firearms here in the U.S. than any Canadian politician could dream of in their worst, liberal nightmare.

Derek

the FLQ iissue is/was yet another police red herring, The terrorists had no ability to re-activate firearms. Instead they broke into an armoury to steal firearms. murdering a guard in the process. (BTW they were communists who wished to establish a french speaking socialist state..ie political as much as linguistic)

The Mohawk, had/ have many illegal firearms. At one point in a French radio interview about why the QPP would not go onto the reserve, (avoiding the word "afraid"). the officer said, "because they have more and bigger guns than we do"

Also when the Mohawk police near Oka were disbanded, thieves (allegedly) broke into the station and stole (iI believe if memory serves).35 handguns.

I think use of the term "Cdn gun culture" is very inappropriate. Cda never was, and is not, in any way similar to the US in its attitude towards firearms. However I do agree its a bloody shame to destroy a functional firearm.

Ask yourself when was the last time anyone was injured, shot, robbed or threatened with a Bren or Sten, or Thompson?

more red herrings..as was the recent issue about BB guns which looked like AK-47..which the police claimed could be "easiily" converted to real firearms... (not)
and seized them from owners who legally bought them, and then also raided a Wpg
gun shop that phoned the cops to say they had two in stock ie- wanted to be fully cooperative.. Instead the cops-raided_ took the entire inventory (probably destroying the shop's future as a business) and indicated there were looking into unsafe storage charges.

Also- you have to be very watchful about terminology used by (unknowing) media which often refers to guns as weapons... nothing is a weapon until it is used to harm another person...But such terminology does serve to raise the fear factor in the general population