CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Michigan Republican Party Chair Kristina Karamo held a press conference Wednesday to address a controversial tweet that draws a comparison between Democratic-led gun reform laws in the state and the Holocaust.
#History has shown us that the first thing a government does when it wants total control over its people is to disarm them. President Reagan once stated, “if we lose #freedom here, there is nowhere else to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth.” #2A #GOP pic.twitter.com/cGCHMN1Pxg
— Michigan GOP (@MIGOP) March 22, 2023
It comes amid state lawmakers’ efforts to pass gun reform bills that focus on red flag laws, background checks and safe storage.
READ MORE: Optimism high at gun reform rally, MI lawmakers ‘close’ to passing new safety legislation
Michigan Republican Party Chair Kristina Karamo doubled down on the party’s comparison, saying the following when she stepped to the podium Wednesday evening:
“The Second Amendment exists for defensive purposes. It exists to protect citizens from aspiring tyrants, and any notion that the Michigan Republican Party drawing comparisons between historical events and the Democrats’ push to disarm the people of Michigan is somehow offensive or bigoted [is] flat-out dishonest.
“I say that as a descendant of slaves, and I’m not using my African heritage as a deflection, but as a fact…Also, I’m part Native American, and we saw what happened in America to the Native Americans. They were rounded up and massacred. History has shown us that defenseless people are easy targets for tyrants, and that’s a fact.
“And what amazes me is that people are troubled by drawing comparisons between historical events and current events. We love the phrase that ‘history repeats itself,’ but yet when we point to history, that’s somehow controversial. I will not tolerate that. I will not apologize for that.”
Additionally, she tweeted the following statement:
"The United States of America, the nation I love and will fight to protect, in our history has enslaved Black Americans, disarmed and murdered Native Americans, threw Japanese Americans in internment camps and forcibly sterilized American citizens who were mentally handicapped and from certain ethnic groups. My ancestors were enslaved and my great-great-grandfather was lynched by a white mob in front of his entire family. Government abuse of citizens has not only happened in world history, but American history. We will not be silent as the Democratic Party, the party who fought to enslave Black Americans, and currently fights to murder unborn children, attempt to disarm us. Our Second Amendment was put in place to protect us from aspiring tyrants. MIGOP stands by our statement."
Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes released the following statement after Karamo's press conference:
"This vile rhetoric comparing commonsense gun safety legislation to the Holocaust is disgraceful. It's even more shameful that the Michigan Republican Party would double down on their hateful comments today. Red flag laws, background checks and safe storage requirements have worked in states like Florida and Indiana, and they will help keep Michigan safe, too. Everyone across the political spectrum should come together to denounce the hate that was on full display today."
