I'm not convinced that giving the border guards guns would solve anything in this situation. I have doubts the clause that allows CBSA to withdraw their services if they feel in danger would ever be removed, even if they were armed. Even with guns, the CBSA officers could take off from the port just like we saw yesterday (and several times before).
I'm also not convinced that having an armed border would prevent dangerous people from trying to enter our country. I have doubts that the government has the capacity to properly train and arm the thousands of border officers necessary to bring about the secure border so many people envision.
It will take a fundamental shift in thinking to change CBSA officers into border guards. To expect them to properly use a firearm and defend the border with force, if necessary, is a completely different job from what they are used to and trained for.
Consider the intensity and quality of training that police officers go through in order to be properly prepared to handle dangerous situations where deadly force may be used. The average person probably wouldn't qualify through that training program. Hopefully the government, in handing out firearms to border officers, makes similar training necessary. Not doing so would be irresponsible. (The counter-example to all of this is probably Brinks or Securicor where they basically protect millions of dollars with poorly-trained loose cannons.)
Given what has happened in the past with the unions and employer involved, I could see a good deal of resistance to the more rigorous training. Already there is a fairly rigorous training process in place but older officers are grandfathered around those requirements. That shouldn't be allowed for anyone with a gun. What happens if it is found that a good 50% or so of the current border guards are unfit to carry firearms? Do they attempt to recruit better officers? Where do these higher-quality candidates come from? Or do they just lower the standards?
The alternative, I suppose, is to make a tough business decision and keep things going the way they are currently. Give the officers minimal training and protection (to keep costs down) and deploy RCMP or local police the odd time a real threat occurs. This way is much cheaper given the high cost of properly training border guards. I'm not sure I would continue down this path though...
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