Donald Trump supports the idea that immigration and customs officials should ask any migrants or visitors to our country whether they’re Muslim, and if they are Muslims, they should be denied entry.

Why would this make us safer against potential terrorists?

If an extremist plans to perpetrate violence against America and Americans, he (or she) would certainly be willing to lie about his religious affiliation. As former anti-terror prosecutor Andrew McCarthy makes clear, the only people who’d be hurt by asking Muslims to identify themselves, or to register with the government based on their religious faith, would be law-abiding Muslims.

On gun control, conservatives understand that new regulations would only interfere with responsible gun-owners who choose to follow them. We should appreciate the same principle regarding Muslim-Americans: those committed to violence will get their guns illegally, and would think nothing of evading Trump’s meaningless new rules. His proposals aren’t just ugly and insulting to patriotic Muslims; they’re profoundly stupid.