Surely it can’t do any harm to have such checks

Nor can it do any good.

Let me inform you then. 🙂

It IS legal to own a functioning machine gun (or assault rifle) in the US and hundreds (thousands?) do, however it requires an expensive annual license with mental screening and background checks.
Never heard of a machine gun used in mass shooting.

That is wrong.

It only requires a two hundred dollar Federal Tax to be paid.
Transportation and use varies from state to state.

Even a class 2 or 3 dealer permit is not an annual deal and is not that expensive.

There is no mental screening, good grief.

Indeed. I think that all Sri Lanka needs is
1) a very small number of fast jets for air policing.
2) MPAs for EEZ patrol. Nothing fancy (no P-8s or the like), just capable of finding pirates, unlicenced foreign fishing boats, ships in distress, etc. & vectoring the navy or coastguard onto them.
3) Transports & helicopters (a few armed or capable of being fitted with HMGs) to support the army, for disaster relief, etc.
4) Trainers for the above.

What, if any, of what’s listed above does Sri Lanka lack?

What they need is determined by what they want.

They are the only ones who know what is correct for them.

Further stand downs could severely damage USAF readiness

This is pure politics and nothing more.
What happened at the EAA and the money, smaller than tiny amount, involved there proves the point beyond any doubt.

that must have been a first. winning all the battles and still losing the war takes some doing

but I would agree the biggest enemy the US forces had in Vietnam was the US government

That’s the fact jack.

You’re a ******* moron.

One’s rhetoric reveals one’s intellect and your rhetoric revealed the level of intellect I expected.

Moggy

If all else fails, get him over to this side of the pond and we will take him South of the Border.

A trip to Tijuana, if that does not fix it, nothing will: although getting back will be easy getting in might be a bit harder, but the old British stiff upper lip can over come anything.

In Vietnam the North never stopped challenging the US and ended up winning the war and region despite losing a number of battles

All battles.

The Tet offensive is considered a victory for the North in the manner that the Cong were so decisively defeated, the Cong never amounted to a serious threat again so the North did not have to worry about dealing with the Cong in the South after they took over, as they were mostly dead.