Has anyone here actually had their airsoft seized at the border? (see criteria)
 

I have read the FAQs and used the search function, but have not seen many posts about airsoft seized at the US-Canada border given the following conditions:

1) The airsoft were transported in person in a car at the US border (ie, not mailed in or flown in)
2) The airsoft were declared upfront instead rather than smuggled/snuck in
3) The airsoft were not being brought in for commercial use (ie, so the importer was not trying to bring in a large qty of the same model or a qty that seemed unusual for personal use (10+))

So who here has followed these criteria and still had their airsoft seized at the border? If it has happened, would you mind sharing exactly what happened?

1 and 2 apply to me.

Ive declared and lost, but was given opportunity to return items.
Ive declared and lost and was not given opportunity to return.
Ive declared and been allowed through.

Im not promoting that anyone do it though.

"No, the white phone"
(Haha, Airplane is the best.)

Give it a try ! Pretty sure far in you mind you think you can do it.

1) The airsoft were transported in person in a car at the US border (ie, not mailed in or flown in) : When you are doing that shake a pespsi can and throw it saying ''Fire in tha hole''

2) The airsoft were declared upfront instead rather than smuggled/snuck in : Sure ! Anybody already tried that...

3) The airsoft were not being brought in for commercial use (ie, so the importer was not trying to bring in a large qty of the same model or a qty that seemed unusual for personal use (10+) : Order a minigun....and make a video with it !

4)Get age verified and buy here !

5)God forgive these words : WTF happen to ASC on the past week ??

+1, though if you still want to try it's all up to you. Though there has been enough red flags here to say other wise. Good luck.

BING BONG*Lost child in Aisle 9. I repeat, lost child in Aisle 9*

Where? Shes mine! Someone get some steak sauce.

On one of the last few trips I took to Seatle, I found one of these.

http://www.armynavymilitarysurplus.c...s/HMC00CD5.gif

When I declared it, the agent took it, and pulled the pin out of in and held it for a about 10 seconds before putting the pin back in and handing it back to me, he stated that it was the funniest item he had seen all day, and that was that. It sits on my desk and my coworkers who come to visit me, walk in, and always pull the pin out.

1) The airsoft were transported in person in a car at the US border (ie, not mailed in or flown in)/ SMUGGLED IN

I wouldnt recommend this but it has been done numerous of times successfully. I havent heard anyone get busted probably because it would be too embarrassing

2) The airsoft were declared upfront instead rather than smuggled/snuck in

Best option. Right now there is a high-risk of seizure ever since about October. If you are smart and say the right things you may get it through AND If you are busted you will either have a chance to return the items (Niagara Falls) or have it destroyed. If you are an idiot, you will not only have your items seized, but be blacklisted and interrogated by customs

Is there more to that story? When I was reading, it seemed that his wife got stopped for trying to transport a large load of commercial goods across the border. Not to mention he is a dealer and flagged already.

I have one of those as well that I bought at a store in Upstate NY, except mine an old 'pineapple' style grenade. (and it's featured in my avatar pic) It also sits on my desk at work ad people pull the pin on it all the time.

Had a similar incident with the customs officer who inspected it. He pulled the pin and released the spoon as part of his inspection. When it didn't blow up after 10 seconds or so, he handed the parts back to me. Is it just me, or was that not the most moronic thing ever? Had it been a live grenade, he would have done nothing more than blow himself up with it. lol Guess they don't hire rocket scientists as customs inspectors.

I agree Crunch, like really, they have to know that their not live, but they still pull them anyways just to be sure, but really if in the past both of our desk top novelties were live, we would not be here today, although it is still funny that they do that.

Indeed. That customs story makes everyone at work who's enquired about my grenade laugh their asses off and call the customs officer an idiot in some form or another. It certainly makes for a good conversation piece if nothing else.

Wow reading that, I was thinking man you should have yell "DUCK AND COVER". I am sure he/she would have shit there pants.

that would have been more than slightly bad lol

Honestly, when he pulled the pin, I had the urge (for a laugh) to turn and run out of the office screaming. But I managed to contain my inner problem-child, realizing that there could have been some serious legal ramifications to my actions.

LOL see thats what I was thinking, hmmmm do I run out screaming or stay and act cool.

On forums like these, before you ask a question like this one, you should read a lot.
After you have read a lot and found: Posts that say "Buy In Canada and here's Why" and no posts that say "Here's how to import legally from Outside Canada"... your next step should be to wonder why that is?

So why is it that a popular forum full of experienced people does not suggest getting airsoft from outside Canada? Because everyone here is too dumb to have tried? Like to spend extra cash? Or we all know better and there are consequences?

It's like the constant questions about "Is there a retailer in my province?" The answer is always "If they are not on the list above each page, no, or they are not reputable."

There's reading, there's doing research, and there's reasoning. It all goes together (normally).

I have to ask, do they not teach the basic techniques to find out information in schools anymore? How about what's called "reading between the lines"?

I could understand better if all this information was super obscure and all over the internet, but it's all (or mostly) on this site. What is not can be found using the links on this site.

Maybe I went to school too long, or too long ago. (What part of Smuggling and Illegal are unclear???)

the part where people don't understand a savings of $300 isn't worth the bull shit.

Ya I was waiting for this.. Its the smartest way.. dont bullshit or try to think your smarter then customs.. Everyone gets so worked up and worried about it cuz you think its as bad as smuggling in drugs.. Equally illegal, but one you can talk about and get it by on choice of words, paying dues, and being smart.

Guys I think you are missing the point.

Where does it say is his thread he was considering 'smuggling' weapons in. He states he has read the FAQ's AND searched.
I think he has a very valid point/question and really the only answer I see is from T7.
There has been soooooooooo much discussion about what MAY happen, given nearly any circumstances, however as soon as a person comes on with specific questions regarding the subject, and wanting more detailed information, its naturally thought of as a means to get around importing legally.

Honestly I would like to know the answers to the question the OP has asked also.

i would agree to ,i am looking for a gun and that would intrigue me to see if there is anyone who ever got seiize.

There's a secondary issue that is raised by the other posters here. What if the answer is:

Yes, you can bring them in. This is what you have to do.

This will be construed in many different ways, and every punk from Victoria to St. John's will be looking for ways to do it, to make it easier and cheaper.

How about if we just say:

No. It's not possible. Buy it Canada.

Whether it is 100% truth or not is irrelevant. The fact remains that encouraging what is by legal definition and administrative policy an illegal act by allowing those answers on here jeopardizes what little bit of self-governance this community has. Discourage the behaviour by having a firm policy. I think this exists already.

If you want to discuss ways to import by pushing the accepted boundaries of legality, do it on another forum.

That's my opinion.

Well, I don't see what he's suggesting as illegal. If the item is declared at customs, then it's hit or miss whether he'll get it through or not. Well, chances are, he WON'T get it through, but the act of bringing it to customs and declaring it is not illegal at all. Smuggling would be trying to get it across the border without declaring it.

From what the OP has posted, I have taken it as being......"blah blah blah.....I have searched and read the FAQ's.....I have read alot about getting airsoft seized at the border, BUT I havent seen ANY specific cases where this has happened."
Given that he posted up.

mcguyer...I agree with your reply, IF that is what was read into the OP. I didnt read into the same way you did......however I would still like to see the answers to the original question.

When he pulled it you should have went...I really wish you didn't do that...

Here a story
4 years ago

Ordered a springer tommy gun and a Mini Steyr AUG.
Came from US
Shipped with USPS
All paper were in order
The Mini Steyr AUG was just to say ''hey this isn't real'' + tommy gun had an orange tip.
+ Special threatement i wanted the shop to put some bb's in the box maybe agent will see the link.

Result =
300$ lost
Option 2 failed whatever the case !

The CBSA does make errors themselves. They are not perfect. Nowhere does it say that once they clear an item, they can't call you up 2 weeks later and demand that you surrender it. Agents are not always the best trained to recognize every sort of contraband. This is where we as a self-regulating community come into play.

I don't know jack shit about textiles. I know nothing about importing food either. They have loads of regulations when those items hit the border. If I was an agent, I wouldn't know what the hell I was doing with most of that stuff most of the time. The average CBSA border agent is in the same boat. He's likely an under-paid civil servant that has to know a little about everything, but not alot about anything in particular. This is likely the reason that guns do make it, even though they've been inspected.

Items that arrive via air or ground at a CBSA warehouse will be inspected by someone versed in the Firearms Act. This is why they don't make it, and why parts even can be problematic.

So, really, what we are asked here is for specific circumstances where the border agent failed to do his job properly and allow prohibited devices into Canada. Answering this question for the OP is not what I'd want to be doing.

Can anyone see where I'm going with this?

well i order some guear from speedytoys and it is being sent as we speek.

i dont think there should be a probleme it is just guear not gun .

I gotta agree with mcgyver on this one.
If you know it should be seized but you try anyway hoping to get lucky, you're not helping the rest of us out.
More than likely thing kind of thing will end up with much more attention paid to airsoft by people who do not understand it.

I had a Robert Goulet confiscated.

I've hear they are discontinued !

That set you back a fair bit didn't it

Man, your inner soccer mom must be strong because that's the only way I can see why you'd take all that time to write so much bitchiness without taking any time to actually read my post. The worst part is that I tried to make my message as succinct as possible, even using numbered point form! Had you read it, you would have noticed the following:

- I have searched and am aware of the issues around this.
- I'm not asking about how to smuggle anything. I clearly state I am referring to people who declared their goods upfront.
- What I am asking for is a show of hands of people who have actually had their stuff seized when crossing the border in a specific and above board situation.

Last I checked, there aren't any threads asking this particular question and it appears there are other people here (regulars even!) who wonder the same thing.

In case you only read the last line of this message (as I suspect you will), I'll write something that may irritate you enough to go back and read it all:

YOU'RE A GROWN MAN; STOP ACTING LIKE A GIRL.

Haha, you're a dead man walking now......boy !

Insulting Greylocks it's the end of the road for you !

Yes, but in Canada, we all know about the actual legality of importing a replica. Trying to it just because a CBSA agent may or may not do his job is in fact smuggling. The fact that you declare changes nothing. You know it's illegal, yet try to do it anyways, hoping to get it in.

The question you ask is basically fishing for an answer to a why an item would be seized. It would be seized because the CBSA agent actually did his job correctly.

END OF STORY!!!!

Bad internals. They have some cheap knockoffs though:

http://videos.onesite.com/189402/cli...unjm0mw==1.jpg

Well, I'm the OP, so you don't need to speculate. I can tell you exactly why I asked:

There are a lot of people saying this and that about how customs will seize your airsoft if you try to bring it in even when declared up front and in person, but seemingly precious few who have actually experienced it. I was wondering why that is. Is it mainly fearmongering? You'd think people who got their stuff seized would love to share their misery and tell their 'war stories' so to speak, but so far that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe bringing across in person isn't that bad after all. I don't know, and none of the threads really cover this in detail, hence the question.

Also, please note I asked about times when people got their stuff seized.. ie, those would be times when the agent DID do his/her job properly.

Man, there's a lot of paranoia here.. should I assume that all the heavy lifting you're doing trying to re-interpret my post and keeping everyone else from answering is because you're a Canadian dealer who wants to keep his fat markup going for as long as possible? Sheesh, give me a break, guys.

Hey Opie...

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/e...someThread.jpg

Most people have been around this issue for many years. This forum has memebers here who used to import them when it was perfectly legal to do so, about 9 years ago now.

There are lots of people who've tried, and not been successful. I've fought customs on gun seizures before, years ago, and lost. Who would want to post up how they tried and got fried, when this community has a good track record of flaming these people for their blatant stupidity?

I've read dozens upon dozens of threads regarding seizures. Spend a few years reading here, and you'll have read them too.

There is no fearmongering or paranoia. There is only the law.

Yeah, to the end of airsoft in Canada. For every story of a seizure you can give me, I can cite an instance of someone bringing an AEG over the border. If you'd been to Border Wars, you'd see the car-load of AEGs that were brought over. The issue with WC's wife aside, the fact is that AEGs can be brought over the border. The way things are going, airsoft in Canada will die out due to a lack of AEGs.

No. Airsoft in Canada will die when a cubicle-Nazi at the CBSA sends an order down to seize anything that looks remotely like a gun. If you think it's unjust or an improper seizure, you would be directed to submit an appeal, which can take years to be completed. 19 months for my appeal to go all the way to the top, only to be rejected.

The more people that try it, because someone says "Bullshit, you can bring those in" means more eyes from all of LE on it, and a simple administartive order is all it takes to shut it all down.

It's funny how people don't realize that they are fucking themselves, their future and their community of airsofters because they want to save a few bucks. And it's always seems to be the dumbasses who want to go after the cheap guns because they're $99 in New York but $300 here.

As much as I detest censorship, this type of thread was lock and deleted only a short time ago. Now they seem to be what, tolerated? It needs to be again.

If you refuse to pony up the dough in the accepted fashion, get out of airsoft and take up knitting.

Sounds to me that you think just because you declare it it makes it ok. Well they wouldn't allow you to bring in a switch balde or anything of the sort. The only fear here is of stupid asshats who make stupid choices with airsoft that puts it deeper into the red zone.

*Edit* Mcguyver beat me to it.

+1.

I just dropped nearly five times the cost of an AEG in US on a new one from 007. It cost me a shitload more, but I'm 100% guarenteed to get my AEG. I'm getting it legally, and I'm not putting airsoft in danager.

Meh, I went for the real thing. Kinda wish I didn't, I would have lost less money on a knockoff.

I wish that youre are not serious about getting it legally.
What its more legal in a law point of view?

Trying to import an AEG yourself or buying from a Canadian store?

Buying at those stores is just as illegal as to import them yourself, we all know that they dont have the right to sell you those guns unless youre in the movie business etc...

Another important thing, what was causing all the problems to this community in the past was big seizures from sellers, that dont care much and want to make more money, not the average joe who want to import a single AEG imho.

So all this double talk makes me laugh. You import AEG at your risk, buying from the seller = less risk but both are illegal. If the RCMP wanted to do some damage they have the power to seize the store and can come to your house and seize the AEG you bought from them. In both cases you're in deep shit if its get seized. You will surely wish that both CBSA and RCMP wont do their jobs.

I smuggled my Robert Goulet in hidden in a potato sack in my trunk.
He has served me very well. For a clone he doesnt do to bad, doesnt even suffer from the same effects that killed the original....oooh going to hell now...

Importing them without a license is not legal, because the CBSA classifies them as replicas. That is pretty cut and dry. Once within the country, whether or not an airsoft gun is a prohibited replica is not clearly defined, hence the gray area.

Buying from a retailer does not include having to actually speak to a Law Enforcement officer while you're buying the gun and completing the transaction.

Bringing a gun across the border and declaring it means you are talking to a Law Enforcement officer while you are importing it. This is the key difference.

Ask Red Tiger about prosecution for weapons trafficking for selling an AEG to another individual. He'll tell you all about it.

The LE in Canada has in the past taken a "don't be stupid and force me to prosecute your ass" approach. They have enough manpower and funding problems going after real guns, drug and gangs to waste on adults with toy guns. That being said, don't ever think for a second that they won't arrest you and haul your ass into court if you are using your gun in the commission of a crime for example.

Now CBSA agents are tasked with enforcing the law, one person at a time, at their leisure. You wait for them, however long it takes. Their policies are not in-fact law, but rather their interpretation of existing statutes. They can decide what is prohibited, and you have to take then to court on your nickel to fight them. Who's going to do that for a $500 gun?

I don't even see why this is a discussion. Read the freakin' FAQ and live by it. Or GTFO off ASC. You do the community no service by promoting what has been known to be illegal for 9 years now.

Dude, read the fact sheets.
http://www.cfc-cafc.gc.ca/factsheets/replica_e.asp

Read 'Possessing a replica'

It's illegal for individuals to accquire replicas that were not owned since December 1,1998

Can this thread be locked, hell while the mods are at it lets have this deleted forever please?

4 words-support the CANADIAN economy:)

+1

Let's end this and get rid of it for good.

+2. And mcguyver, your posts are outstanding.

It's the PTW! It permiates your being and improves all aspects of your life, not just airsoft! :p

Well, if that's the case, JOC must be the haven of Nobel Laureates and peace and harmony. Wait a minute........

It would seem that some people have had adverse, alergic reactions to said PTW's...

I smuggled my chuck norries powered GBB across the border. Can't get those things in Canada. :D

Some people say PTW's are as powerful as the chuck norris powered airsoft guns. I tested this out, shot a PTW and my chuck norries GBB at each other at the same time. When the bb's collided in mid air, the result was the second ice age...

Shhhhh now.

Stop acting like a child and start thinking. When a site like this one does not answer your question, it's a message in itself.
If you feel targeted by my response, well, if the shoe fits...
Go get your brain in gear. You'll find the answers.
-You have searched? Your search missed.
-Even if you declare it, a Prohibited item is still Prohibited. As said by many; it does not matter unless you stumble on an idiot at the Border station.
-People did raise their hands, and the consequences were told to you. A bit more research would have given you entire shipments seized, and businesses going into court. Instead of trying it out myself, I chose to read their experiences which I found by searching.

Then I got to think: With all the experienced people here, someone would have said something a long time ago if it made sense.

Call me what you want kid, as long as you start to use your brains instead of your anger.

So someone was deeply stupid, took a chance, got lucky as all hell and put our entire sport at risk? And that's ok with you?

Man... I hope the age-verifiers are reading this.

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