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Arming border guards a prickly issue
Feb. 2, 2006. 01:00 AM
RON CHARACH


An unspecified number of border guards in British Columbia left their posts last week upon learning that armed murder suspects from California were making a run for the Canadian border. The fugitives were stopped short in a shootout with their pursuers, American law enforcers.

The incident was snapped up by Conservative justice critic, Manitoban Vic Toews. He deeply regretted the embarrassment to our national image and promised that the new Tory government would rectify the negligence of the previous government and begin properly equipping our border guards with the guns they need to do their job. All it would take, said Toews, was to properly train our border guards in the safe use of their new weapons.

The first considerations of this costly proposal are entirely practical, but it has broader ramifications. While the border guards' union has long pushed for its members to be armed, the Canadian Border Services Agency has been cautious about such a change. It has instead advocated that the "lookout list" of potentially dangerous suspects be pared down to include only those who are deemed likely to actually head for the Canadian border. Critics of such a policy might view it as a "head in the sand" approach, but there is a complex calculus involved in transforming our border into a mirror image of the American border. It extends far beyond the considerable cost of purchasing weapons, proper instruction for those who wield them and ensuring safe storage for the weapons in between such extremely rare, if embarrassing, incidents.

The immediate winners in our adopting the unwritten American adage that "more guns, not fewer, make us safer" include the manufacturers of handguns and ammunition, the very people whose wanton sales policies to "scofflaw" outlets and gun trade fares have helped arm such a motley crew of American felons in the first place.


Perhaps there is value in continuing to have our border guards present a peaceful entrance to this country, while backing them up more efficiently with RCMP or Canadian military personnel, who are already extremely well-trained in the daily carrying and use of weapons, are rarely trigger-happy and cause very few unnecessary crossfire injuries. A final practical consideration is that, if felons realize that Canadian border guards are armed, they will be sure to draw their weapons, and shootouts are more likely to take place on this side of the border.

While Toews did not condemn the practical actions of our guards, admitting that they acted in self-defence, it seems to have escaped him that not one of them was wounded, let alone killed in this well-publicized incident. It was left to Americans to manage what is an American problem driven by that country's wanton policy around the manufacture and sale to its civilians of concealable weapons. The choice to heavily arm our border not only impacts on our image as a peaceable nation, but also informs the questionable introduction of lethal weapons into other currently weapons-free zones, such as seaport terminals and on board civilian aircraft.