An Alaska Republican and most senior member of the US House argued against gun control by wondering how many Jewish people “were put in the ovens” because they were not armed.
Don Young, who has a history of off-the-cuff remarks, made the comments at a meeting last week in the state capital of Juneau when responding to a question about what the federal government and cities can do to stop school shootings.
“How many millions of people were shot and killed because they were unarmed?” Young said at a meeting of the Alaska Municipal League, a lobbying group for local communities. “Fifty million in Russia because their citizens weren’t armed. How many Jews were put into the ovens because they were unarmed?”
The comments were “taken entirely out of context,” a spokeswoman for Young, Murphy McCollough, said on Wednesday.
“He was referencing the fact that when Hitler confiscated firearms from Jewish Germans, those communities were less able to defend themselves,” she said. “He was not implying that an armed Jewish population would have been able to prevent the horrors of the Holocaust, but his intended message is that disarming citizens can have detrimental consequences.”
Source :- theguardian
Don Young, who has a history of off-the-cuff remarks, made the comments at a meeting last week in the state capital of Juneau when responding to a question about what the federal government and cities can do to stop school shootings.
“How many millions of people were shot and killed because they were unarmed?” Young said at a meeting of the Alaska Municipal League, a lobbying group for local communities. “Fifty million in Russia because their citizens weren’t armed. How many Jews were put into the ovens because they were unarmed?”
The comments were “taken entirely out of context,” a spokeswoman for Young, Murphy McCollough, said on Wednesday.
“He was referencing the fact that when Hitler confiscated firearms from Jewish Germans, those communities were less able to defend themselves,” she said. “He was not implying that an armed Jewish population would have been able to prevent the horrors of the Holocaust, but his intended message is that disarming citizens can have detrimental consequences.”
Source :- theguardian
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