Let's deconstruct this.
Compare the number of gun deaths and deaths by terrorist attacks from foreign outsiders in the United States. I think you'll find gun related deaths end up being much larger than if we added San Bernandino, the Orlando gay bar attack, and 9/11.
This suggests very much that we are psychologically terrified of Muslims but in proportion to their ability to actually cause harm, it's quite low.
So? But there's already terrorist attacks. Maybe the answer is to deport all Muslim citizens from the United States?
Sure. Maybe. I mean, again, deaths by single lone wolf attacks are radically, vastly, outnumbered by gun deaths, car accidents, plane crashes, deer crashes, whatever.
Here's the problem with the Muslim ban.
1.
Enforcement. How are you going to enforce it? If you say geographic ban, are you going to create an exception for Christians from Syrians? What if Muslims convert to Christianity? Are you going to pick and choose who's a Muslim and who's a Christian?
2.
Radicalization of Islam. What message are you sending to "swing" Muslims who are not interested in supporting radical Islamist terrorists by banning them from America? The simple message that we indiscriminately don't distinguish them from actual terrorists. The Syrian mother fleeing war torn Aleppo cannot be lumped in with radical Islamic fighters in Baghdad. Yet, by forcing that mother to recognize that we view her as scary and as much an enemy as the terrorists we kill by drone strike, we just exacerbate our problems.
We cannot take out a 1.6 billion strong religion, no matter how hard we try. Not without nuclear weapons, a lot of dead bodies, and a lot of moral guilt afterwards. Now, if you're cool with that, that's certainly an option.
But winning the war on radical Islam requires us to have Muslim allies. Yes, we need to be able to isolate the terrorists from their more moderate brothers and sisters. Creating Fortress America and Europe doesn't solve the problems (for instance, they'll just start taking over more and more territory in the Middle East, becoming a bigger problem, especially if they get nuclear weapons and chemical weapons). Consequentially, a ban is a stupid idea because it alienates likely allies who would want to embrace Western culture and civilization.
