Upgunned.

In Saskatoon the only people besides police officers you'll encounter on the street with legal handguns are the crews of armoured trucks.  While Canadian police forces have universally gone over to semiautomatic pistols armoured truck guards have continued to carry revolvers.  But it seems this is changing.  This morning I saw a Brinks guard heading in to a liquor board store, and it looked like he had magazine pouches on his belt.  Sure enough when he came back out I could see his right hip, and he was carrying a pistol instead of a revolver.  (I'm familiar enough with guns that the design of the grip made me think it was a Smith and Wesson product, perhaps their recent M&P model.)  I would imagine this is simply a case of the older guns needing replacement, as armoured truck robberies aren't common here.  In fact I haven't a clue when the last such attempt might have been.  It also makes me wonder again how much shooting practice these guys actually get.

Fun On The Border.

Have a thought for the border guards along the US-Canada border today. June 1st sees the introduction of new regulations for travelling to the US from Canada. To cross the border you must have a valid Canadian passport or one of several other alternate documents. But you know that a whole bunch of people trying to cross over the next few days don't know they now need a passport, despite ads announcing the changes running for months on TV. So border guards will have to deal with a bunch of irate people who are having trouble totally of their own creation.

A recent incident involving an armed American criminal at a border crossing has lead to calls for Canada Customs border inspectors to be armed. Today while buying a donut at the local Tim Hortons I noticed a CN Rail police officer sitting in one booth. He was armed. It brought up the obvious thought that if a railroad cop is armed then shouldn't at least some Customs officers be as well? After all they are more likely to face smugglers, terrorists, or other potentially threatening people, not that its hard to imagine situations where a CN Police officer would need a firearm.