Donald Trump: U.S. should 'seriously' consider profiling American Muslims

Donald Trump says the United States should “seriously” consider profiling American Muslims in order to stop terrorism.

“I think profiling is something we’re going to have to start thinking about as a country,” Trump said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday when asked if the profiling of U.S. Muslims would be part of his counterterrorism plan. “I hate the concept of profiling. But we have to use common sense. We’re not using common sense.”

“Other countries do it,” Trump added, “and it’s not the worst thing to do.”

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s comments came a week after a gunman opened fire inside a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., killing 49 people and wounding 53 others in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

The shooter, 29-year-old Omar Mateen, was an American-born Muslim who lived in nearby Fort Pierce. He was killed in a shootout with police.

Immediately following the massacre, Trump gave himself a pat on the back.

“Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism,” he tweeted. “I don’t want congrats, I want toughness [and] vigilance. We must be smart!”

In a speech in New Hampshire a day later, Trump incorrectly stated that Mateen was “born an Afghan.”

“Yes, there are many radicalized people already inside our country as a result of the poor policies of the past,” Trump said. “But the whole point is that it will be much, much easier to deal with our current problem if we don’t keep on bringing in people who add to the problem.”

Following the terror attacks in Paris, Trump called for a temporary ban on all Muslims entering the United States, a database tracking American Muslims and expanded surveillance of “certain” mosques.

Last month, Trump appeared to back away from his proposed ban while responding to criticism from London Mayor Sadiq Khan, saying, “This is just a suggestion until we find out what’s going on.”

But on Sunday, the real estate mogul and former “Celebrity Apprentice” star took his hard-line stance on U.S. Muslims up a notch.

“We really have to look at profiling,” Trump said. “We have to look at it seriously.”

On Wednesday, Trump suggested that the death toll in Orlando might have been lower if more clubgoers had been carrying guns.

“If the bullets were going in the other direction, aimed at the guy who was just in open target practice, you would have had a situation, folks, which would have been horrible, but nothing like the carnage that we as all people suffered this weekend,” Trump said during a raucous rally in downtown Atlanta that was frequently interrupted by protests.

He made similar remarks after last year’s terror attacks in San Bernardino, Calif., and Paris, and reiterated them in a speech in Phoenix on Saturday.

“If you had somebody with a gun strapped on to their hip, somebody with a gun strapped on to their ankle, and you had bullets going in the opposite direction, right at this animal who did this, you would have had a very, very different result,” Trump said.

But in a separate interview with “Face the Nation,” National Rifle Association executive vice president Wayne LaPierre said he wouldn’t want clubgoers armed.

“I don’t think there should be firearms where people are drinking,” LaPierre said. “But I’ll tell you this, everybody, every American, needs to start having a security plan. We need to be able to protect ourselves because they are coming.”