Now we all know that quite often things are done ‘differently’ in the US and certainly the apoplectic security environment would be one obvious example, but this latest news item really has the Belly Achers wondering what the heck is going on with our American friends.

The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) – surely a department that could stand a funding increase since they seem to be the only ones paying attention – released a report recently highlighting the fact that individuals on the government’s terrorist watch list were able to legally purchase firearms and explosives.

In its report it observed that over a five-year period, 963 background checks for weapons purchases using the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System “resulted in valid matches with terrorist watch list records; of these matches, approximately 90 per cent were allowed to proceed because the checks revealed no prohibiting information,” the GAO report says.

According to one of the country’s politicians, “this new report is proof positive that known and suspected terrorists are exploiting a major loophole in our law, threatening our families and our communities. This ‘terror gap’ has been open too long, and our national security demands that we shut it down.”

We have a better idea. How about just shutting down gun ownership instead? After all, wouldn’t that solve this particular problem and a lot of ‘other’ problems too? Alas, in the immortal words of infamous gun proponent, Charlton Heston: “From my colddead hands!”.