Cross Border Firearms Task Force
Date: March 1, 2022
Study : Gun Control
Classification: Unclassified
Branch / Agency: IEB/CBSA
- In 2021, Canada and the U.S. announced a cross-border firearms task force to tackle the illegal movement of firearms and drugs through cross-border travel and trade.
- The task force will collaborate with the Cross-Border Crime Forum to inform the forum’s work and make communities safer.
- In Canada, the task force is led by the CBSA and supported by the RCMP. Our counterparts to the south include U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
- When it comes specifically to firearms, task force members are working with Canadian and U.S. law enforcement to combat the smuggling of firearms, firearms parts, and devices that are prohibited from export or import, as well as target the organized crime and activities that enable this smuggling.
- The task force is preparing to issue a Joint Border Threat Assessment in Spring 2022 to guide the work being done to prevent the smuggling of illicit firearms, and disrupt and prosecute organized crime.
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How the task force was created
On February 23, 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joseph R. Biden met and unveiled the Roadmap for a Renewed U.S.-Canada Partnership, detailing commitments on various issues, including combatting firearms smuggling. The roadmap included the reestablishment of the Cross-Border Crime Forum (CBCF) to strengthen information-sharing, address justice reform and cross-border law enforcement challenges to make communities safer.
The President and Prime Minister also noted their common objective to reduce gun violence and directed officials to explore the creation of a cross-border task force to address gun smuggling and trafficking.
To help address this challenge, the two countries have formed the Canada-United States cross-border task force, under the Cross-Border Crime Forum, to be co-led by the CBSA for Canada and jointly by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) within the Department of Justice, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (ICE/HSI) within the Department of Homeland Security for the U.S.
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What the task force does
- The task force is a forum to scope and identify ways to counter firearms smuggling across the United States-Canadian border.
- Task force members are expected to collaborate with relevant domestic government agencies and international organizations to combat the threat posed by smuggled firearms, firearms parts, and devices prohibited from export or import, as well as target the groups and activities enabling this threat.
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