This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2017, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

With Donald Trump firing James Comey and the passage of the pitiful health care bill, a critical event was reported and then quickly dropped by the media. Trump promised he would make America the safest country in the world. Then the following week he spoke at the NRA Convention promising absolute loyalty to unregulated gun rights.

You can't have both. NRA-endorsed gun laws foster 30,000 gun deaths every year, a scandalous gun violence epidemic completely absent in every other advanced nation.

Rejecting Muslim immigrants from coming here could hardly begin to make us the safest nation in the world. Trump would have to turn his back on the GOP-NRA-gun manufacturer brotherhood and demand gun regulations that would save lives. This would take a statesman — which Trump is not.

And, as long as a decadent GOP takes dark money from the gun lobby, the gun violence epidemic will continue.

Trump supporters should realize that promises to make America safe made by the Fibber-in-Chief should never be taken seriously. We need a president with a heart and soul who realizes that saving lives trumps gun sales, and the GOP unfortunately has no one who qualifies.

Ron Molen

Salt Lake City