Gun violence issue notes—Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security: Study on gun violence (December 16, 2021)

Cross-border firearms taskforce (Minister's hot issue notes)

• When leaders from Canada and the United States last met in February 2021 and unveiled the Roadmap for a Renewed U.S.-Canada Partnership, both countries committed to re-establishing the Cross-Border Crime Forum to tackle challenges such as the illegal cross-border flow of firearms
• In support of this common objective, Canada and the U.S. have formed the Canada-United States Cross Border Firearms Task Force. The mandate of this task force is to tackle illegal movement of firearms through cross-border travel and trade, while ensuring that the movement of essential workers and goods continues unimpeded
• The Task Force is led in Canada by the CBSA and supported by the RCMP. It includes the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP)
• The Task Force members are collaborating with relevant domestic and U.S. law enforcement agencies to combat the threat posed by smuggled firearms, firearms parts, and devices prohibited from export or import, as well as to target the organized crime networks and the activity enabling this movement
• These efforts will support and inform the work of the Cross-Border Crime Forum by collaborating on cross-border law enforcement challenges to make communities safer
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Background

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. Specifically, the roadmap outlined efforts to enhance law enforcement collaboration between the U.S. and Canada, including 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 Firearms Task Force (CBFTF), under the CBCF, 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. Both countries intend to work together consistent with their respective domestic laws to identify the primary sources of illicit firearms and to disrupt their flow, and the exchange of illicit commodities for such firearms across the shared border.

• The CBFTF is intended as a forum to scope and identify ways to counter firearms smuggling across the United States-Canadian border
• CBFTF 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
• The CBFTF is expected to support and inform the work of the CBCF by considering issues specifically requested by the CBCF as well as recommending issues for CBCF consideration and providing progress updates on its efforts
• CBFTF Members include senior-level officials with appropriate expertise and security clearance from the ATF, ICE/HSI, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the RCMP and the CBSA
• Terms of Reference for the CBFTF were signed August 12, 2021, and an inaugural meeting was hosted by the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa on November 10, 2021. The next meeting is scheduled for December 17

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CBSA firearm strategy

Key message

In 2018, the Government provided the CBSA with $51.2 million over five years, to enhance its capacity to take action against guns and gang violence. This funding has allowed the CBSA to increase its operational capacity to screen passengers and examine commercial shipments.

The CBSA firearms strategy

• The CBSA Firearms Strategy focuses on identifying criminal networks and trafficking routes in order to prevent illicit firearms from crossing the border and disrupt criminal networks in their ability to facilitate the smuggling
• The Firearms Strategy is heavily focused on partnerships, involving almost all parts of the Agency, police, and other law enforcement partners both domestically and abroad to keep our communities safe
• In 2021, the CBSA National Firearms Intelligence Desk (NFID) was established. This desk brings together all CBSA partners working to combat firearms smuggling in order to maintain a real-time national border-focused threat picture of illicit firearms in Canada and their movements across our borders
• Average yearly seizures from 2016 to 2020 were 436 seizures, 656 items. So far in 2021, there have been 386 seizures, 1048 items (as of December 8, 2021)
• In addition to our Intelligence and Criminal Investigations Teams, the CBSA's National Targeting Centre continues to work very closely with CBSA Offices across the country as well as with our Border Five partners to identify firearms and related prohibited parts destined for Canada
• While we have seen threats in all modes of entry, the postal mode has been identified as one with a particularly elevated risk. Firearm parts, including uncontrolled parts, are being imported into the country after which individuals are creating their own firearms. For instance, in 2021 the CBSA seized 3571 replica firearms. Many of these were imported and declared appropriately but met the velocity or determination of a real firearm and could easily be converted into a firearm

Frontline firearms teams

Quebec region

• The CBSA's Quebec Region has formed a Weapons Smuggling Integrated Enforcement Team consisting of CBSA intelligence and criminal investigations personnel
• The team has initiated various operational projects, including those focused on seizures of firearms and weapons in the postal and courier modes and destined to the province of Quebec, regardless of their point of interception in Canada, and those involving importation of firearms parts that may be used to produce ghost guns (in other words, unregistered firearm)
• The CBSA's Quebec Region works closely with various law enforcement partners across the province to further investigations into illegal cross-border firearms movements. Many of these cases remain under active investigation by the CBSA and partner law enforcement agencies
• For example, the February 2021, arrest by the RCMP, of a resident of l'Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec, along with the seizure of homemade bombs, firearms, silencers, magazines, volumes of ammunition and prohibited weapons resulted from an initial CBSA intercept and seizure of a prohibited silencer being illegally imported into Canada

Greater Toronto Area

• The CBSA has bolstered its capacity to contribute border-specific insight to the national picture of firearms smuggling. In its effort to combat the smuggling of illicit firearms, the CBSA has established two operational teams in the Greater Toronto Area
• The first team is the Firearms Interdiction Team (FIT), which is working closely with CBSA Intelligence to ensure the legitimacy of commercially imported firearms
• Since its inception in early 2020, FIT has intercepted over 3700 improperly declared replica, restricted, and prohibited firearms and over 1100 prohibited devices. FIT has also intercepted over 100 other prohibited weapons during this time

Specific to the postal mode

• The CBSA has also established a postal-mode specific Firearms Unit in Toronto, also working closely with CBSA Intelligence and Investigations, to ensure the legitimacy of personal firearms, firearm parts and accessory importations
• Since its inception in April 2021, the Postal Firearms Unit has intercepted over 1600 replica firearms, over 60 other prohibited devices (suppressors, overcapacity magazines and other parts) and over 30 restricted and prohibited firearms. Additionally, their work has resulted in over 350 intelligence and investigative referrals, which have resulted in multiple arrests and charges by the CBSA and our policing partners
• The CBSA does not have the ability to capture data on charges laid by policing partners. From January 1, 2020, to November 30, 2021, the CBSA Criminal Investigations Division referred 13 leads to an external partner

Tools and programs available to BSOs

Illicit guns in postal facilities

• Six new X-ray machines were purchased and five have been deployed to [Redacted] mail processing facilities
• The investment in Dual View X-ray technology allows the CBSA to process all mail in a consistent, efficient, and non-intrusive manner
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Detector dog teams

• Detector Dog Teams were trained and deployed in 2019
• Work will continue to be undertaken by the five trained firearms detector dog teams at select ports of entry
• The teams continue to be fully functional and are operating as expected

Advanced vehicle concealment techniques course

A national training course for CBSA officers on the identification and interdiction of crime guns and weapons. The training was temporarily halted due to COVID-19 protocols, but is expected to resume in the spring of 2022.

Air cargo security

• The CBSA has expanded the use of hand-held and pallet-sized X-ray technology and the deployment of Contraband Outfitted Mobile Examination Trucks (COMETs) into the air mode at select major airports [Redacted]
• The procurement of detection technology equipment will be undertaken. Currently all hand-held and postal X-ray equipment has been purchased and is operational. The 14 COMETS along with the detection technology tool kits have all been purchased and are operational
• The CBSA is currently in the process of securing a vendor through a Request for Proposal process for the purchase of Pallet Large Scale Imaging equipment to be implemented at the airports

Background

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) is responsible for facilitating international trade and travel across Canada's border, while ensuring the health and safety of Canadians. Specifically, the Agency helps to protect Canadian communities by combatting the movement of illegal firearms into Canada.

The 2020 Speech from the Throne outlined the Government of Canada's commitment to "fight gun smuggling and trafficking by strengthening measures at the border and increasing penalties." The 2019 Speech From the Throne and mandate letter to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness also set out direction to provide the CBSA with additional resources to detect and stop gun smuggling.

While there are various initiatives underway in the Agency to combat firearms smuggling, the Intelligence and Enforcement (I&E) Business Line plays a unique role across the travel and trade continuum. As such, the Firearms Strategy focuses on the identification, disruption, interdiction, enforcement, investigation and prosecution of illicit firearms and related activities using an intelligence-led, problem solving and integrated approach. It encompasses activities that can be conducted or influenced by I&E personnel, and can help guide non-I&E programs and operations in supporting the fight against illicit firearms smuggling. It is recognized fully that no approach to combat this threat can be successful without internal and external partners, and that there is no "one-size fits all" approach.

There are numerous firearms-related issues related to the border. They include individuals travelling to Canada at the land border who fail to declare firearms (but without nefarious intent), and the legitimate importation of commercial firearms that are bound by legislative restrictions and requirements. While the CBSA must ensure that these border issues are appropriately addressed, the strategy focuses on identifying, disrupting and interdicting those firearms that are smuggled, trafficked, and intended for use in the commission of a crime. For this reason, this strategy also focuses on partnerships, working closely with our internal CBSA partners, police and other law enforcement partners both domestically and abroad to keep our communities safe.

The key to this multifaceted approach is the newly established National Firearms Intelligence Desk (NFID). This desk will bring together partners across the Agency, all of whom are combatting the firearms threat, by breaking down silos between the various CBSA programs and operations. Hosting national calls and coordinating information and intelligence, the desk will bring together intelligence, immigration enforcement, criminal investigators, targeting, security screening, international liaisons, Port of Entry operations, commercial and traveller policy and program areas and more—to collectively focus on firearms.

Intelligence-Led: An intelligence-led approach emphasizes the collection, analysis, production and actioning of intelligence throughout the strategy. Intelligence collection activities are guided by intelligence questions/gaps, intelligence products are produced to inform decision makers and personnel, and intelligence is ultimately turned into action at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels. The sharing and dissemination of timely information and intelligence with internal and external partners can be very effective for disruption efforts.

Problem-Solving: The Agency, headquartered in Ottawa, has seven Regions in Canada as well as an international network. Protecting the border requires an understanding of 10 provinces, 3 territories, and 3573 municipalities, and partnerships with potentially 180 police forces and 14 other federal law enforcement agencies. Therefore, the Agency cannot afford to adopt a "one-size fits all approach." Interventions need to be guided by intelligence, but specifically tailored to the nature and causes of gun smuggling in each area. This strategy requires that each region establish an intelligence-led plan specific to their own environments.

Integrated: An integrated approach recognizes that the nature of gun smuggling is not isolated or restricted to any one threat group, mode of entry, or geographic area. For instance, while a firearm might be smuggled into Canada via one region, the smuggling might be facilitated by a criminal group based in a second region, and the ultimate destination or where the firearm is used could be a third region.

While each region and implicated program of the CBSA must develop a tailored plan, the plans must be shared and discussed with other areas of the CBSA to ensure visibility of the overall activity and to ensure a coordinated approach. There must be open and regular communication by all parties involved in this strategy. An integrated approach also recognizes that firearms smuggling is linked to various other threats. Firearms are often used for protection, for instance, against other criminal elements involved in drug trafficking. Therefore, I&E partners assigned to this strategy must also ensure they have connectivity and visibility to those CBSA programs whose focus is on drug smuggling, human smuggling, currency smuggling or other illicit activity.

Partnerships

The CBSA does not have a mandate to investigate organized crime or gang activity per se; however, a significant proportion of activity involving crime guns involves organized crime or gangs. Therefore it must maintain and continue to increase its knowledge and understanding of this kind of criminality through intelligence collection, analysis, training and partnerships. In order to understand the overall threat and ensure that the CBSA has the elements it needs to identify, disrupt, interdict, and enforce gun smuggling activities, it must also ensure that it collaborates with its various law enforcement partners to share intelligence, build a shared threat picture, and conduct joint operations, as appropriate. To this end, we have embedded resources in the US, and vice versa.

Equally important are the partnerships the I&E Business Line develops with internal CBSA partners, particularly in the Travellers and Commercial & Trade (CTB) Branches whose officers, tools, and policies play a key role in combatting firearm smuggling. Other areas of the CBSA, such as Strategic Policy Branch (SPB), Information Science & Technology Branch (ISTB), and Finance & Corporate Management Branch (FCMB) also play an important role in enabling I&E operations, and supporting the success of the strategy.

CBSA initiatives funded under the Initiative to Take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence (ITAAGGV)

Under the ITTAAGV, the CBSA received $51.2 million over 5 years to ensure that CBSA personnel are given the tools and equipment to ensure their safety and the safety of their environment while maintaining their ability to achieve their mandate of protecting our borders at ports of entry.

This funding includes:

• Intercept illicit guns in the postal stream—Dual View X-rays and Software/Network
• $10.83 million over 7 years and $1.21 million in ongoing funding to support an increased ability to screen significantly more volumes of mail items at all postal facilities

The additional funding for the CBSA allows for investments in an all-weather detector dog training facility, additional detector dog teams at key highway crossings, expansion of X-rays. The additional funding for the CBSA allows for investments in an all-weather detector dog training facility, additional detector dog teams at key highway crossings, expansion of technology at postal centres and air cargo facilities, and key training in the detection of concealed goods in vehicles crossing our borders.

These technical enhancements—supported by the necessary legislative, regulatory, and policy changes—will position the Agency to provide effective border support to new Government of Canada initiatives that restrict the cross-border movement of firearms, firearm parts, or ammunition.

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The National Targeting Centre

The National Targeting Centre (NTC) continues to work with Regional Intelligence and Enforcement personnel, the National Firearms Intelligence Desk, and Border Five partners in establishing commercial threat identifiers and comprehensive rules for pre-arrival targeting of firearms and related prohibited parts. NTC has also been assisting on multiple firearms investigations through the analysis of historical import history linked to individuals who have received prohibited firearms or related parts. [Redacted]

Quebec region

The CBSA's Quebec Region has formed a Weapons Smuggling Integrated Enforcement Team (WSIET) consisting of CBSA intelligence and criminal investigations personnel. The integrated nature of this team ensures dedicated CBSA personnel are assigned to combat weapons smuggling and trafficking. Through a fluid exchange of information across CBSA teams, the CBSA is positioned to produce a more complete intelligence picture and a strong basis for launching criminal investigations.

The team has initiated various operational projects, including for example, those focused on seizures of firearms and weapons in the postal and courier modes and destined to the Province of Quebec, regardless of their point of interception in Canada, and those involving importation of firearms parts that may be used to produce ghost guns. As part of these projects, between April and November 2021, the Quebec Region has assessed nearly 150 referrals resulting from the port of entry interceptions of firearms parts, including silencers. The CBSA has launched 10 criminal investigations, in addition to initiation of a number of further intelligence probes. Based on referrals from the CBSA to partner law enforcement agencies, over 25 controlled deliveries of intercepted parts have been undertaken to advance criminal investigations into firearms-related offences within the province of Quebec since April 2021.

The CBSA's Quebec Region works closely with various law enforcement partners across the province to further investigations into illegal cross-border firearms movements. During 2021 alone, the region has conducted joint investigations or referred cases to the RCMP, various guns and gang units of the Sûrêté du Québec (SQ) throughout the province, the Service de Police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), and the Service de police de l'agglomération de Longueuil (SPAL), among others. While many of these cases remain under active investigation by the CBSA and partner law enforcement agencies, we can confirm that the CBSA's information sharing and partnership with Quebec law enforcement colleagues and the use of various investigative techniques have led to inland seizures across Quebec of multiple firearms parts, silencers, other weapons and narcotics. As a specific example, the February 2021 arrest by RCMP of a L'Ancienne-Lorette, Quebec resident along with the seizure of homemade bombs, firearms, silencers, magazines, volumes of ammunition and prohibited weapons resulted from an initial CBSA intercept and seizure of a prohibited silencer being illegally imported into Canada.

Enforcement continuum

Key message

• The CBSA uses data and intelligence collected by the CBSA or shared by partners, to determine trends, methods, smuggling routes, and potential entities involved in illicit activity. The identification can happen at any point in the travel and trade continuum, including pre-border (working with international partners), at the border, or post-border (working with local law enforcement
• Interdiction of undeclared or improperly imported firearms and firearms parts, and other weapons, is a CBSA priority. The CBSA conducts targeted examinations to identify illicit firearms shipments in all modes, including at the land border, and in marine, air, courier and postal shipments
• The CBSA seizes undeclared or improperly declared restricted or prohibited firearms with no terms of release. Conveyances used to illegally import firearms may also be seized and released only upon payment of a penalty. This could include, for instance, the vehicle that the concealed weapon was found in
• Each year, the CBSA pursues criminal investigations against many individuals and companies linked to firearms and parts smuggling, and will use various investigative techniques to gather evidence, and subsequently recommend criminal charges under the Customs Act to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada
• The CBSA regularly engages in joint investigations with policing partners, including the RCMP and provincial police such as the Sûreté du Quebec and Ontario Provincial Police, as well as local policing agencies to combat firearms smuggling
• As identified in the CBSA's Firearms Strategy, the threat is complex and thus must be combatted using an integrated approach with our police and other law enforcement partners, domestically and abroad
• Through follow-up investigations often resulting from initial border intercepts, our law enforcement officials in Quebec and across the country have removed significant numbers of firearms and other weapons from our communities and brought numerous individuals before the courts to face criminal charges under the Criminal Code in addition to the Customs Act

Background

Port of entry examinations, seizures and enforcement actions

There are numerous firearms matters within or connected to the border domain. They include individuals travelling to Canada at the land border who fail to declare firearms [but without nefarious intent], and the legitimate importation of commercial firearms that are bound by legislative restrictions and requirements. The CBSA must ensure that these border issues are appropriately addressed, while also using its resources to identify undeclared/smuggled or mis-described firearms or restricted or prohibited firearms parts entering Canada through any mode including those in possession of travellers or commercial drivers in highway or other modes, through commercial shipments in the air, marine or highway modes, or through postal or courier shipments.

While the Customs Act provides for the seizure of all goods and conveyances with respect to which the Act or the regulations have been contravened, officers are afforded discretionary powers that allow them to decide what course of action to pursue. Improperly imported restricted or prohibited firearms may be seized and no terms of release are to be offered, while other firearms or weapons may be released upon payment of any appropriate penalties, if the person possesses all required permits and import documents. In the commercial mode, an Administrative Monetary Penalty [AMP] may also be applied, and in the traveller mode, conveyances used in transportation of the goods may also be seized and released upon payment of a penalty. In the courier and postal modes, seizures are generally affected against the shipper of the goods, as the party responsible under Canadian law to submit customs declarations. Importers may also be identified as associates on the seizure.

IRPA 36[2][d] – In cases where a foreign national is identified at a port of entry smuggling firearms into Canada, the officer may consider writing a report for inadmissibility for committing an offence on entry, pursuant to paragraph 36[2][d] of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act [IRPA]. Such reports must be referred to the Immigration & Refugee Board for determination. Additionally, officers have the discretion to allow foreign nationals to withdraw their application to enter Canada and instead return to the U.S. While the decisions of officers in specific cases cannot be fettered, officers are trained to consider all facts of the circumstances when determining the appropriate action to take under the IRPA.

While officers maintain legal discretion to arrest individuals identified smuggling goods, in the case of firearms, such individuals are generally arrested immediately following the interdiction of a smuggled firearm, as a criminal investigation may result. In addition to ensuring the individual is not free to leave the port of entry, the arrest also triggers the reading of rights and cautions to the individual to protect admissibility in any future court proceedings of any subsequent statements made. In many cases, an individual may not be present with the goods, such as in the case of postal or courier shipments or commercial shipments in the air or marine modes and such individuals may be identified only through subsequent investigative efforts.

Referrals to CBSA Criminal Investigations and joint investigations with police partners

In accordance with the Agency's Prosecution Policy, port of entry (POE) officers encountering smuggled or improperly declared restricted or prohibited firearms will in many cases be expected to refer those seizures for further investigation by the CBSA's dedicated criminal investigation teams located within each regional office.

Not every firearm seizure necessarily results in a criminal investigation. For example, many seizures occur yearly at POEs as a result of American citizens failing to declare at the border firearms which they legally possess in their home state. CBSA officers consider all information available at the time of the seizure to assess the appropriate extent of CBSA enforcement efforts. In many cases, the forfeiture of the firearm provides sufficient response, particularly in cases where no previous criminality exists and there is no evidence that the firearm was intended to be used for illegal purposes or transferred to other people in Canada. In such cases, further investigation and the ensuing resource implications for the CBSA, the Crown and the courts would not be in the public interest.

By contrast, in many other cases, the CBSA individually or in conjunction with policing partners will launch further criminal investigations with the intent of confirming extent of the criminal activity, identifying responsible parties, and pursuing criminal charges. Upon receiving notifications of firearms seizures, CBSA intelligence and criminal investigations personnel conduct various queries to assess linkages to known criminal organizations, previous seizures, enforcement actions or criminal activity, previous import and cross-border history, results of any firearms tracing conducted through U.S. enforcement agencies, and any other available intelligence, etc. Information may be gathered from a number of third parties and through the use of various lawful investigative authorities available to the CBSA. These analyses and initial investigative steps ultimately produce a fuller intelligence picture. Results of these analyses in addition to seizure specific information [for example, level of concealment] informs CBSA decisions whether or not to launch a criminal investigation, particularly in cases involving seizures in the mail or courier streams.

Regardless of whether the CBSA initiates a criminal investigation, information is maintained in CBSA records in accordance with retention policies, to support future intelligence and risk assessment needs related to cross-border firearms smuggling.

The CBSA participates in various Joint Forces Operations with police agencies across the country, namely with the RCMP as well as provincial and local police agencies. This includes a number of operations focused specifically on firearms-related crime, and the CBSA regularly refers cases to a police partner for a possible joint investigative follow-up.

Criminal investigations, whether conducted by the CBSA alone or in conjunction with police partners, often span many months and years as investigators use various investigative methods including applying for and executing search warrants, and subsequently analyze and prepare summaries of seized evidence for Crown attorneys, lay charges before the criminal courts and support Crown prosecutors throughout the ensuing trial.

Legislative authorities for border service officers

Key message

• The illicit flow of guns across the border is a shared responsibility between federal law enforcement partners on both sides of the border. While CBSA has the mandate for enforcement at the ports of entry and the RCMP has the mandate for enforcement along the remainder of the border, our teams work hand in hand to identify, interdict and prosecute those involved in firearms smuggling
• Often, firearms offences under the Customs Act are also offenses under the Criminal Code, and would therefore fall under the jurisdiction of the RCMP. The CBSA does not have a mandate to investigate organized crime or gang activity per se, except as they relate to the application of the Customs Act and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. Since a significant proportion of activity involving crime guns involves organized crime or gangs, the CBSA must maintain and continue to increase its knowledge and understanding of this kind of criminality through intelligence collection, analysis, training and partnerships
• In order to understand the overall threat and ensure that the CBSA has the elements it needs to identify, disrupt, interdict, and enforce gun smuggling activities, it must also ensure that it collaborates with its various law enforcement partners to share intelligence, build a shared threat picture, and conduct joint operations, as appropriate
• Border Services Officers (BSOs) facilitate legitimate trade and travel across Canada's borders and keep Canadians safe by stopping illicit weapons, drugs and inadmissible people from coming into Canada
• As part of their duties, BSOs administer and enforce over 90 acts of Parliament, including the Customs Act
• The Customs Act sets out the legislative authority to control the importation and exportation of goods. It gives CBSA officers the authority to, for example, search persons, examine imported or exported goods, and detain or seize goods in cases of non-compliance
• Often, Customs Act infractions related to firearms detected at ports of entry are also contraventions of the Criminal Code. When these goods are intercepted, the CBSA Criminal Investigation Division and RCMP or local police often work together to conduct joint investigations
• The CBSA also works closely with its domestic and international law enforcement partners, including the U.S., to identify the primary sources of illicit firearms and to disrupt their flow and the exchange of illicit commodities for such firearms across the shared border