Donald Trump has made asinine and insulting comments since he has been in the spotlight, and he has only exploded since he announced his candidacy for president. However, in leu of the attack on Paris, he crossed yet another line. Trump argued that France's gun policies (they are firearm free) are to blame for the attack. He is blaming the country, government, and victims for their own tragedy. Not only does this make him an awful person; he's obviously wrong.
What happened in Paris is not a new phenomenon, it happens in America at an alarming frequency. From Sandy Hook, to the Batman Theater shooting, to the shooting in South Carolina, it is obvious that lax gun control laws will not stop terrorists from slaying innocent people. In fact, it is ridiculous to think that even if one person had a weapon for self defense that they would be capable of stoping the slaughter. America's track record of domestic violence, assaults, and mass shootings further prove that people don't want to carry personal firearms all the time, even for defense. Therefore, loosening gun control laws in France will only yield a situation more like ours, where mass shootings occur sometimes multiple times per year. Our homicide by gun rate is 5 times higher than Europe's when adjusted by population, so obviously owning a gun does not equate to protection.
Taking his rhetoric on Paris a step beyond blaming them for their own misfortunes, Trump emphasized shutting down mosques in an effort to stop the spread of, "Ideas of hatred..." and not allowing Syrian refugees in America should he be elected. Both of these ideas are not only hateful, completely unfounded, and racist, they're unconstitutional (shutting down mosques is a violation of the first amendment) and violate our fundamental ideals of freedom.
The world Muslim population is 1.6 billion and growing at an exponential rate.This means that if 0.1% of these people were terrorists, there would be 16 million terrorists.There aren't. Experts estimate that there are about 106 thousand militant Muslims in the world. That's less than 0.00007% of all muslims in the world are militants. I'd really rather save every refugee, and trust every muslim than condemn them all to die, or strip away freedoms they already have because of 0.00007% of their population. More Christians are violent than that.
To add to the embarrassment of Donald Trump running for president and boasting these isolationist and racist ideas, many governors have said they won't allow Syrian refugees in their states. This is even more ridiculous than Donald Trump. These refugees, once here, are given political asylum by the nation. It's wrong and ridiculous for individual states to deny that asylum.
All in all, much of the rhetoric from the right about Syrian refugees and France has been unfounded and xenophobic. America, we need to do better.
