Bipartisan criticism is being levelled at the Michigan Republican Party over Wednesday’s social media posts that linked recently passed gun-reform bills to Hitler.
The state GOP published a photo of wedding rings taken from Holocaust victims. It was embossed with the words: “Before all these wedding rings… they collected all those guns.”
The state party posted on Twitter that it believed history had shown that disarming people is the first thing a government does when they want total control of their population.
The party’s Facebook post stated that “no good” can come from disarmed populations and opposed “unconstitutional red-flag laws.”
Many Jewish legislators strongly criticized the posts, with some calling for their removal.
Rep. Elissa slotkin, D. Mich., announced last month a Senate bid . She urged the party delete the tweet and to apologize for it. The tweet she said ignorantly that gun safety was likened to the mass extermination 6 million people.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) called the posts “inexcusable.”
He tweeted, “We must continue making bipartisan progress gun safety like last Congress — and not trivialize Holocaust by making ignorantly insulting and incorrect comparisons.”
Matt Brooks, CEO of the Washington-based Republican Jewish Coalition called the posts “completely inappropriate and offensive” urging them to be immediately removed.
Kristina Karamo (the Michigan Republican chair) defended the positions in a statement.
She stated that “Our 2nd Amendment was created to protect us against aspiring tyrants.” “MIGOP stands behind our statement.”
The Michigan Republican Party didn’t immediately respond Wednesday night to a request for more comment.
Recently, the Michigan Senate approved a gun-reform package that was based on party lines and included safe storage requirements as well as universal background checks.
Parts of the Senate-passed bill are still being negotiated through the Legislature.
Last year, President Joe Biden made the most significant changes in gun statutes for three decades. It included provisions for background checks and red flag laws, as well as provisions that included juvenile records.
