A bill introduced by California Representative Ted Lieu would prohibit the president from launching a nuclear strike for any reason other than in retaliation without a formal declaration of war from Congress. With rising nuclear tensions and Trump’s increasingly unhinged behavior, this bill is not only a good idea, it is an essential one.

Nuclear engagement, especially a first strike, would have massive and irreparable international implications and could lead to full-scale nuclear warfare. While Trump is far from an ideal person to have unilateral control over the largest nuclear arsenal in the world, no human being should have the ability to, at a moments notice, use weapons of such unfathomable destruction and invite such ruin upon humanity. It is inarguable that a preemptive nuclear strike could be anything other than a grave error.

The bill, while a necessity, is only the first step — the only way to ensure a secure future for humanity is to push for global disarmament of all nuclear weapons. Their very existence is a threat to humanity’s continued survival.

The president’s actions are clearly those of someone who does not understand the stakes he is playing with, by taunting a historically volatile foreign head of state who has issued direct threats and is increasingly capable of a nuclear strike, Trump is demonstrating his inability to understand the severity of the situation.