Moving to USA- bring guns?
 

So I finally got my green card and plan to move to Texas. Has anyone brought their guns/ imported them when they moved? I guess I have two options : keep my guns here at my family house and just hunt in Alberta and buy a few guns in Texas, or try to import them to the USA and just bring them back for my hunts in AB.

What would y'all recommend from personal experience?

When I moved down to the US to go to school (and ended up working there for a few years) I took them down - no issues whatsoever (but that was 20+ years ago).

Brought them back here when I moved back and had to send them in bond with my mover and they inspected and released them (I also added a few to the collection) and it was pretty painless and easy. (that was 10 or so years ago).

Have to check with my brother, but he said it was quite painless. USCBP was almost disinterested in the rifles. Check with ATF regarding importation.

I'd imagine if you moved to Texas and didn't bring guns you'd be considered a whack job 😳

If you have the money, two sets of guns is a great choice. One for there, one for here and then it doesn't matter if you drive, fly or whatever coming home. The airlines are starting to get really pricey to fly guns, you can almost pay for one out of the excess baggage fees they charge for one trip back and forth, not to mention the rough handling they get. Driving back and forth is far less of a problem.

Even flying to hunt in countries other than the U.S., between the baggage fees, paper work, and import fees it is far easier and cheaper just to borrow a gun from the host in the country you are hunting. I used to take my own guns to Germany, Poland etc, now I don't bother.

Believe there are some guns we have access to up here, that are not allowed to be imported into the US these days, with embargoes and etc. May pay to call if you have some off breed stuff.

Yea I would have to leave my SKS here, but other than that I have the normal run of the mill American available guns.

Thanks for the help guys. I will be calling them soon to find out if Canadian customs will have an issue with me crossing to the USA with guns and if the Americans will.

I've driven across many times and flown across a couple and I don't ever remember having to talk to the Canada border guys on my way into the US. I drove across just this past June and on the way south drove right past the Canada border guards and stopped at the US side. So I highly doubt you'll need to worry about the Canada side as you go south

The issue is and always will be, getting appropriate permission from whichever ever side you're crossing into

While I doubt you'll have issues taking firearms into Texas, I would most definitely contact the US border people and ask them about it. I'm sure they can help you get direcly in touch with whomever you need to speak to in Texas. Always best to have any permit's etc required before arriving.

I realized I didn't fully answer your question. If you are moving down to work then it is very different than going down to hunt. You will need a permit to permanently import your guns to the states rather than the usual form 6. When you move back to Canada it is pretty easy with long guns, but you will need an export permit from the States, which means you need an import permit from Canada to get their export permit issued, even though Canada doesn't actually require and Import permit.

That is why I suggested you buy another set in the States, and sell them before you come back, or leave them with a friend. If you want to bring a few back you will still need a US export permit. Shotgun and rifle permits are issued by different departments.

The other annoying part is you will end up with a lot of spare marks on your guns from importing to the US then back to Canada as both countries require import marking each time the gun is permanently imported to a country.

Borderview Imports does a lot of this kind of work if you end up needing help.

https://www.borderview.com/services/...mport-service/

I actually just re-located back to Canada from the US. When we moved there I brought all of my firearms with me. The biggest pain was getting all of the paperwork processed through the ATF so I could import them into US. If you plan on going this route, plan ahead as it takes a while to receive paperwork back from them. If you reload you will need to account for those items as well.

Biggest pain I found is when I returned to Canada for hunting trips I had to stop at the border crossing to complete temporary export paperwork (there is another name for it but can't recall) so that when I returned I could bring firearm back without hassle. It doesn't sound like much but it takes a fair bit of time, and border crossings can sometimes be rather busy.

When we moved back, it was quite easy as I had kept my PAL current. No questions at all when we crossed.

As for markings on the firearms as mentioned before, I never had to go through any of that, but of course your experience may vary as I am a dual citizen.

If you know your stay is going to be temporary, I would just leave them behind if you have the option and buy something down there. Never a bad day when you "have" to buy a new gun :)

i jsut moved to texas in feb.

for starters, where are you moving? i ask this cause im low on friends. haha

i used Irunguns to move 2 down for me. it wasnt worth the hassle to me. cost about 100$ per. i moved my treasured rifles and left the other stuff home. sold a couple.

at the end of the day, much cheaper and much more variety here. your local academy sports puts basspro and cabelas to shame in terms of selection.

i got a rem 700 sps for 349 on sale the other day.... wasnt worth moving my rem 700 down for that price!
also jsut missed out on the fathers day deal. buy a ruger sr9 get a free heritage .22lr revolver.

i did however get in on the motherday sale, buy a ruger ar-15 get a free 10/22!

For now Weston Lakes near Fulshear/Katy. I do plan on moving somewhere closer to work if it is in Downtown but who knows. With my luck i'll probably get moved to Corpus or Quintana as that is where they are building the LNG Plants. Yea Academy has some great sales, I had my father in law buy a shotgun for me, the Yildiz Eleganta; and it is just sits and waits for my trips to Texas. I may just buy a gun here as I bet I wont be shooting more than 300 yards in Texas. The only animals I can see me hunting down here are hogs, turkey and deer. I'll keep my high powered hunting rifles at home in Canada.

I do plan to do some fishing though. My friend just bought a center console and we were supposed to try it out today in Laguna Madre but I am leaving to Poland right now as we speak.

well if you need any friends on that center console, ill head to corpus or galveston and anywhere inbetween at the drop of a hat.

ill pay fuel and beer!