President Trump’s executive order banning immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim states from travel in the U.S. has caused world-wide chaos, including protests in the millions, as well as leading to a judicial stay and the president’s stubborn effort to overturn said stay, which may cause a constitutional crisis. And the question is: “What is this all about?” 

The administration’s answer is: “The President’s first job is to keep the American people safe. And we need to use any and all means to do that.” And how many people from the sanctioned countries have engaged in terrorist attacks, or any violence anywhere? The answer has become a punch line: “Zero.” 

Where the number of Americans killed by nationals from the seven states is zero, the number of Americans killed by Americans using guns averages over 33,000 a year (FiveThirtyEight.com). That means all this banning and staying and overturning is a damaging distraction from what the statistics scream President Trump should be doing: leading the movement to outlaw military weapons from civilian ownership. 

And, to borrow a phrase the administration uses to defend its ban, he “…needs to use any and all means to do that.”

Charles Harding

Stonington