Great replies and I'm thankful to get a wealth of information from you all who are obviously intimate with the countries laws.

For the record and local recommendations, I'm in Vancouver so please do suggest places, clubs, and more for friendly faces and service in our mutual interest.

I have indeed already felt like a pariah for being a gun enthusiast and not a hillary/Obama apologist. I assume that's mostly the city and perhaps outside that, in the rural areas, the attitude would be more open. Maybe I can convince my fiance to move to Alberta!

You all are spot on about the irs and the deadly clutches of its all too long reach. They truly do demand their money. I know there are some treaties to avoid double taxation but I also know most of us so aren't rich enough to have a small any of accountants and Lawyers will end up paying more. Bottom line is a broad tax code or rewrite of the tax system is very unlikely. .. too many people making too much money with the status quo and even the fake conservatives betray their constituents and promises all the time. . Sadly I expect the same of trump.

You can't even really renounce your us citizenship very easily. Frankly I do love my country but would forego it if I could truly find a more libertarian place to live that still had more socially open attitudes. Obviously I'm in canada because of the heart but certainly want to live in a way that's as consistent with my values and beliefs as possible.

Apologies for the minor rant. It's not easy to find people to express it to!

I may end up just buying local as if nothing else that would support a good Canadian gun shop which would be my preference. I'll look into the import as part of my settlement but will keep it simple and stupid in terms of what I potentially bring in which is to say, a very ordinary bolt action that should be boring enough to not fall into the many loopholes and exceptions cited above like the higher capacity pistol mags used on semi auto rifles like the 458 RRA variant of the AR.