[RUEZ]

QBC wrote:

People keep calling them border guards, when really they're just customs officers. Basically that means they're there to make sure you pay duty on that bulk pack of underwear you bought in the states, not "defend" anything. Trainem and arm them and then you can bitch if they bugger off from their post.

This is taken directly from the Canadian Border Services Agency website.

Quote:

Help keep inadmissible goods and people from entering Canada... help find missing children... protect Canada from illegal drugs and firearms... contribute to a safe food supply and to the protection of our environment... enhance Canada's social and economic growth...
Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) employees are committed people with a big job.

So they are more than just customs officers.

[QBC]

That doesn't say they have to engage armed felons from the US with no way to stop them but to try and hit them with there Mag-lite as they dodge bullets.

[Zipperfish]

I like clogeroo's point--if you're going to issue them guns anyway, why not just use cops? As it is, they'll have to set up a whole new bureaucracy to deal with the use of force by customs guards. There will be multi-million dollars training budgets at various training academies to teach these people use of force, arrest procedures, rights, pursuit yadda yadda yadda.

If the job is that dangerous that you need a gun to protect yourself, then why not have cops do it.

[RUEZ]

QBC wrote:

That doesn't say they have to engage armed felons from the US with no way to stop them but to try and hit them with there Mag-lite as they dodge bullets.

No I agree, I just wanted to point out that they are border agents not just customs agents.