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Dave Ross

Forget background checks, hook gun buyers up to the ultimate stress detector

The terrorist's secret weapon isn't the gun. It's the law abiding citizen with the clean record who just decides one day to commit his first - and last - crime. (AP)

The President wants to expand background checks for gun sales. He believes the San Bernardino shooting might soften the opposition.

But if anything, San Bernardino actually works against background checks.

Did you hear what it took for Tashfeen Malik &#8211 the female shooter &#8211 to get into the country? Because she was emigrating from Pakistan the government did a lot more than check her shampoo bottle.

Related: Obama’s favorite song is deep, especially compared to Michelle’s

The State Department says Malik was questioned at the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan. Interviewed at the Embassy!

She passed.

She also filled out a questionnaire, asking if she was planning to engage in terrorist activity. Apparently she answered “no.” But the investigation didn’t stop there.

Five agencies vetted her and checked her fingerprints against databases. It’s a process that can take up to five months. And she passed.

I’m pretty sure that even the President won’t be asking gun dealers to do anything close to that. So we’re right back where we started.

The problem is that the terrorist’s secret weapon isn’t the gun. It’s the law abiding citizen with the clean record who just decides one day to commit his first &#8211 and last &#8211 crime.

Here’s what I’d do: at the gun shop, you’d be hooked up to a stress detector while a screen flashes a series of images and headlines guaranteed to enrage any fanatic &#8211 everything from the Muhammad issue of Charlie Hebdo to the worst of the Planned Parenthood Videos. And if your body betrays any visceral reaction, even if your record is clean, no gun! Heck, I wouldn’t even let you drive!

Dave Ross on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM

  • Tune in to KIRO Radio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.

About the Author

Dave Ross

Dave Ross hosts the Morning News on KIRO Radio weekdays from 5-9 a.m. Dave has won the national Edward R. Murrow Award for writing five times since he started at KIRO Radio in 1978.

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