Canada opens Colombia to ‘new opportunities’ for its automatic weapons sellers

OTTAWA – Just one day before last month’s elementary school massacre in the U.S., Canada cleared the way for its gun merchants to export banned assault weapons to Colombia, one of the world’s most violent countries.

The Harper government quietly eased a ban on the export of assault-style weapons to Colombia after amending the Automatic Firearms Country Control List.

The change went into effect on Dec. 13, one day before a gunman walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and gunned down 20 first-graders and six school employees.

The change opens the door for Canadian gun merchants to sell fully automatic weapons with multi-bullet magazines — now banned in Canada — to Colombia, a country battling a half century-long guerilla insurgency.

The amended order places restrictions on the permits required for the weapons exports, including a case-by-case review by Ottawa.

The government says Canadian weapons exporters will face very strict controls before they are allowed to export prohibited weapons such as automatic firearms.