To the editor:

In a recent column, Charles Krauthammer raises the issue of a Syrian passport found on the body of one of the perpetrators of the massacres in Paris. Why was it there, he asks. To show that the Islamic State (ISIS) can infiltrate the masses of refugees battering on the gates of Europe.

Why is that important? Krauthammer does not pursue the thread of his narrative, but here is a theory: ISIS wants to scare countries into banning the refugees from entering their territory. That will leave thousands of these wretched people to waste away in fetid refugee camps. That suits the Islamic extremists just fine:  It will vastly simplify their recruitment of new jihadists.

This strategy is working brilliantly with many American politicians — a majority of the House of Representatives, for example, and a majority of the country’s governors, our own Sam Brownback among them.

By contrast, France is sticking to its commitment to accept 30,000 refugees from North Africa and the Middle East. Germany is preparing to host well over one million. This country so far has accepted only 2,000 Syrian refugees since the Syrian civil war began four years ago.

Of course, Gov. Brownback has to protect the safety of Kansans, but don’t Kansans deserve protection against the homegrown terrorists who shoot up college campuses, movie houses, and primary schools? Apparently the governor didn’t think so when he signed law earlier this year making it legal to carry concealed weapons in this state without a license or training.