Stop all foreign killers

Richard Fulton

President Trump has cracked down on the “dirty seven” Muslim countries that might send refugees to America that are terrorists. He banned any from these nations from entering our hallowed shores.

Yes, he used the word “ban” when he signed the executive order.

But who can argue with his stated goal to keep Americans safe by keeping these dangers out? And Muslims from these countries are all suspect. After all Steve Bannon, his man on his National Security Council, has said that this religion wants to kill all of us since it is “the most radical religion in the world.”

So keep them out, that’s what you said during the campaign and by gosh you are doing it. After all 85,000 refugees and asylum seekers were admitted into the U.S. in 2016 including 36,722 from your “dirty seven” states. All in all a record number of Muslims.

Well, if you want to look at facts (though facts haven’t stopped you in the past), they did very little killing of Americans. Nor have any of the 10 percent of total legal immigrants in America who are Muslims. Indeed, if you take all the refugees from the “dirty seven” the total of Americans killed by them is zero. Nil, none. Dangerous group

The chances of you dying from an attack by any foreign born terrorist is calculated as 0.00003 percent. One in 3.6 million. And these numbers include 41 years of data, even 9/11 numbers.

Even though you put them in your administration President Trump, you really should insist the Muslim haters act from the basis of facts, not hysteria.

Home grown terrorists are more dangerous.

Still, the President is correct, we must keep dangers that kill Americans out of our country. And the most dangerous of foreign-origin killers is clearly not refugees but automobiles. If you want to protect Americans from danger, you must act against this danger.

So here’s what I say Mr. President, if you are serious about saving Americans, ban all foreign cars from America because they kill Americans at an alarming rate.

Taxes and walls on our southern border can keep out cars that kill. There are many other entry ports for these killers as well. Stop them!

Look at the data if you question me. There were 38,300 Americans killed in auto accidents last year; 4.4 million injured or disabled. In Missouri alone 869 people died. These figures reflect the highest increase in 50 years.

Foreign car makers have sold more than 50 percent of all cars sold in America this year. Something should be done about this. At least 30,000 of those cars were imported. You could start there in protecting Americans from this foreign threat.

Even in the cars made in America they really just assemble parts from around the world. You can help stop the carnage by banning the importation of parts for these cars. They are, after all, killers of Americans.

Actually, there is not much evidence that even illegal immigrants as a whole are killers, rapists, or other criminals. Indeed, what evidence there is notes that they commit crimes at a lesser rate than American citizens.

But foreign cars are deadly, like American cars. But we can’t stop American cars from killing Americans. We can stop foreign cars from entering the country and killing Americans.

So, if you are committed to the safety of American citizens by keeping out foreign influences that have backgrounds that lead you to suspect that they could kill Americans, as you profess, it is imperative that you stop the number one killer—cars.

Richard Fulton is an emeritus professor of political science.