I flew to Alaska in a small plane. I bought a 'survival' rifle, a .22LR with a metal barrel and trigger assembly which could be stored in a plastic floatable stock. Always reported it to the Canadian authorities when crossing borders. One of the agents told me due to its barrel length he had the power to confiscate it. He didn't of course. I figured they designed their regulations to give them that power if they deemed the Yankee in any ways dangerous. In that era they were more concerned that I could pay my way through. Plus this was western Canada, where many of the locals had hunting weapons as well.

What is consistently ignored by the reactionary folks is that while they are so often eager to label the rifle as a 'tool' a la Rifleman with Chuck Connors, few of them reflect that the 'tool' matters. It's the idea that if your go-to tool is a hammer, your problems look like nails. If your tool is a firearm, well......