RVer's Motorhome Impounded Over Canada Gun Violation

The moral of the story may be: Don't lie to the customs folk.

James Yarbro, a church elder from Alabama should have known better than to "fib" about packing a pistol when he and his wife pulled off the ferry in Nova Scotia. The 67 year old had already one chance to come clean: When rolling his motorhome onto the ferry he had to fill out a form that declared he was not carrying a firearm. He checked the box that indicated he wasn't. His last chance was when he spoke to Canadian officials who directly asked if he was carrying a weapon. Nope.

Not quite: Customs officials who inspected Yarbro's motorhome found a .357 magnum in the overhead compartment not far from the driver's seat. That's a no-no north of the Lower 48. Yarbro found out it isn't nice to fib to the officers. Mr. Yarbro's motorhome was impounded by the Maple Leaf officials; Yarbro himself had to appear in the Queen's court to explain his behavior.

After pleading guilty to failing to report his weapon, Yarbro paid a $500 fine. That was far from the end of the matter: He was nicked an additional $500 for failing to safely store the weapon; and to get his motorhome back, Yarbro had to pony up an additional $1,000. It's not clear whether Yarbro ever got his big pistol back. Reporters met the Yarbros at the ferry dock as they headed back to Maine. It might be understandable that when queried about his exploits, Yarbro commented: "I just really don’t want to talk to you anymore," he said. "I want to get home and I don’t want to talk to anybody up here about anything else."

Before carrying a weapon to Canada, visit the official website on these matters.