I hope this is the right forum...if not, sorry about that, Mods.
Ok. So we went to Canada for a long weekend so that we could attend what I call a "nerd herd." Anyhow, I KNOW they are not very firearm-friendly so I wasn't going to be an idiot and try and bring my Sig into the country...or even a bullet or anything. But, I brought my NRA instructor handbook, a notebook, some pens, and a sweet "gun pron" magazine that one of the guys gave me in class last week. My CCHP is in my wallet, but we only use the Passports for ID.
Heading INTO Canada was very smooth. I normally wear a baseball cap when we travel because it's hassle-free to keep my hair up and sometimes you get glare in the airplane, so I like having the brim.
We get to Toronto, everything is fine, still in my NRA cap. We check into the hotel, blah blah. The 2nd-in-command of the show (where we are guests) CONFISCATED my NRA hat at the Convention Centre!
Mmmkay...whatever, I guess. And no, he kept it, I don't have it back.
Coming back INTO the US from Canada, it got a lot worse! We're in line to go through the metal detector, take off our shoes, have our carry-ons scanned, etc, and before I even queued up, the lady Border Guard says "I'm going to need you to step over here, you're going to be my random female check."
Okie dokie, no problem. I'm a guest in their country trying to make the flight back home to mine. I politely answered all of her questions, "yes ma'am" or "no ma'am"-ed her, and complied immediately with everything she asked. So she starts saying "I'm going to need you to step here, facing me." Then she starts patting me down.
I thought all would be well until the male BG comes over. He starts in with the wand. They make me put my belt on, take my belt off, put my belt on again, take it off again...I'm holding my passport with my arms outstretched the whole time, and the darn passport is making the wand go nuts. Nothing else.
So then she decides that it's time to frisk me. FOR THIRTY STRAIGHT MINUTES. In full view of the public! She lifted up my shirt, and I swear -- I'm not trying to be humorous about this-- she gave me an atomic wedgie. Since when are they allowed to pull your underwear up over your waistband????

Or lift your shirt in front of everyone? NOT COOL, CANADA.
Finally she decided I'm not the Taliban, and gets my carry-on bag. Oops, my gun literature (oh no, I'm a scary American gun-nut! Help!) is still in my bag, along with the cash we needed to exchange. This did NOT go well.
So now I'm bent over the steel table, frisked AGAIN, as all my personal items are spread out for everyone to walk by and gawk at, including my Rx meds. Not like I'm on anti-psychotics or VD meds, but it's still embarrassing and not everyone needs to know that I have High Blood Pressure, you know?
I did NOT appreciate this at all. I understand that they will randomly choose folks to search, and that's fine. Let's all keep our borders safe. But this was really over the top, and I hate to say it, but I really felt violated. If our flight wasn't delayed 3 hours, we would have missed it.
But then, I got to spend 6 hours in Newark last night. Joy. Welcome to my nightmare. :ticking: