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I haven't been insulated from anything. I am an American, not a Canadian.

Arming Canadian border guards has absolutely nothing to do with U.S. border safety or the U.S.' war on terror. Canada isn't the former East Germany. Canadians would not shoot people trying to leave their country, even if they had guns. Canadian border guards simply aren't responsible for people entering the U.S. Customs doesn't work that way. It is up to American officials to screen those entering the U.S.

Canadian authorities DO share information with us about terrorism. There were more than a few terrorists arrested in the United States as a result of the very good work of the CSIS in Toronto recently. They are good allies and friends, especially now that a new sheriff is in town in Ottawa. I can't consistently say the same thing about our southern neighbors (although President Fox and President Elect Calderon are far better than any alternative).

In any event, most Canadian conservatives would agree that it is a travesty that Canadian border agents aren't armed - at a minimum, for their own protection because the Mounties can't be everywhere all the time. The current Conservative government is changing that - albeit perhaps too slowly.