WASHINGTON -- Nailing down specifics about Donald Trump’s policies is exhausting. He makes things up, changes his mind and neglects details. One of the six issues he's actually fleshed out on his campaign website concerns gun rights, where he says he will combat gun violence by bringing back measures like Project Exile, a 1990s-era state-federal partnership.
Trump doesn’t seem to realize that Project Exile never really ended -- it still exists, and parts of it have expanded nationwide. His proposal doesn't really make sense, but it does serve his purposes: It focuses on cities, where his overwhelmingly white base doesn't live. It locks up "drug dealers and gang members," not "law-abiding gun-owners." It doesn't address other routine forms of gun violence, like shootings by toddlers, family members, domestic abusers, countless legal gun owners, or mass shooters such as Dylann Roof and Elliot Rodger. And for people like Trump, it also makes a great racist dog-whistle. (The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.)
