Following a controversial tweet from the Michigan Republican Party’s Facebook and Twitter accounts Wednesday comparing potential gun reform legislation to the Holocaust, party chairwoman Kristina Karamo held a press conference to address the ensuing outrage from both sides of the political aisle. Karamo, however, chose to double down on the message that was sent.
“We have a fantastic communications team, and to think about it, I stand behind the statement,” said Karamo. “I am a student of history. Growing up with lots of immigrants and hearing their stories of government abuse, it is important that we look to history to learn for the future. Again, there’s a reason the quote history repeats itself is so common because people, for whatever reason, refuse to learn from it.”
Karamo defended the posts that claim majority Democrats are trying to disarm gun owners, showing a United States Holocaust Museum image of rings confiscated from Jewish prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp with the words “Before they collected all these wedding rings… they collected all the guns.” Republican Jewish Coalition chief executive Matt Brooks called it “absolutely inappropriate and offensive and should be taken down immediately.” Karamo says the Democratic majority is trying to “disarm us” and “murder unborn children.”
