Michigan GOP attempts to tie gun reforms to Holocaust, faces backlash

Lansing — The Michigan Republican Party's official social media accounts made misleading posts Wednesday to try to connect Democrat-backed gun proposals to the Holocaust, spurring criticism from both sides of the political aisle.

Democrats are advancing bills in the state Legislature this month to expand background check requirements for firearm purchases and mandate the safe storage of guns in homes where children are present. The package of proposed laws also would allow for "extreme risk" protection orders, permitting a court to temporarily remove weapons from someone's home if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others.

The proposals came after a Feb. 13 shooting on the campus of Michigan State University left three students dead. The measures have gained the support of two former Republican congressmen, David Trott of Birmingham and Fred Upton of St. Joseph.

But on Facebook and Twitter Wednesday morning, the Michigan GOP shared a meme that said, "Before they collected all these wedding rings ... They collected all the guns." The text was displayed on a 1945 photograph of wedding rings that were taken by Germans from Holocaust victims, according to the U.S. National Archives.

The German Nazi regime banned Jews from owning guns and disarmed them as part of rules adopted in 1938 that loosened firearms restrictions for other German residents that had prevailed since the end of World War I, according to Bernhard Harcourt, a Columbia University law professor. The German rules targeted a religious ethnic group without any judicial process as they gave gun rights to other citizens, while the Michigan Democratic legislation takes away guns from individuals based on threatening behavior and is overseen by judges.

The Michigan GOP tweet was condemned by Democrats and Republicans alike.

"This tweet by @MIGOP is absolutely inappropriate and offensive and should be taken down immediately," Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, wrote on Twitter.

In an interview Wednesday, Trott called the state Republican Party post "disturbing." The critics of the gun bills likely hadn't read them, he said.

"It’s operating out of ignorance," Trott said. "And that’s one of the great threats to our democracy today.”

Karamo defends posts

Kristina Karamo, the unsuccessful GOP nominee for secretary of state last year, became the Michigan Republican Party's chairwoman in February. She said Wednesday the party stood by its posts.

"My ancestors were enslaved and my great-great grandfather was lynched by a white mob in front of his entire family," Karamo said in a statement. "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 (sic) to disarm us."

Later in the day, Karamo held a press conference in Macomb County, where she again voiced support for the Holocaust-related social media posts and contended it wasn't controversial to "point to history." People get "way too offended," she said.

"We're a different Republican Party," Karamo said. "We are not the Republican Party who apologizes and runs away from our positions. It's a reason the Republican Party has gotten kicked in the teeth the last three cycles. Because it's been a party that's always apologizing. We're done."

The press conference also featured Karamo taking questions from and debating with Rabbi Asher Lopatin, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council/AJC. Afterward, Lopatin said he was saddened that Karamo didn't see the difference between learning from history and exploiting history.

"We expect our leaders to be strong and passionate in their views but to be sensitive to different communities that could be offended," Lopatin said.

Lopatin said he hoped Karamo would have consulted with those in the Jewish community.

"This demonstrates a lack of sensitivity that we really have in our political system," he said. "When you reference the Holocaust, you have to realize it is such a tender and sensitive and hurtful issue for the Jewish people."

On Facebook, the Michigan GOP's accounts specifically criticized the "extreme risk" bills, also known as a "red flag" policy.

"No good can come from a disarmed population, and our constitutional rights to defend ourselves against a corrupt and tyrannical government are now being violated by unconstitutional red flag laws," the party's Facebook post said.

The "extreme risk" bills would allow a spouse, family member, a former spouse or a mental health professional to seek a court order temporarily barring someone from owning or purchasing a firearm. The request for the order would have to show the person posed a "significant risk of personal injury" to themselves or others.

Proponents have said the measure would prevent suicides and other violence. In a March poll by the Glengariff Group, 75% of Michigan voters supported the idea of a "red flag" law. Critics have argued that such laws don't give gun owners enough due process in these judicial proceedings.

More:Michigan Senate OKs 'history-making' gun control bills after deadly mass shootings

Jewish critics respond

Michigan Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Southfield Democrat who is Jewish, criticized Karamo on Wednesday.

"Haven’t the victims of the Holocaust suffered enough than to be shamefully exploited in death by this vile post?" Moss said. "Anti-semitism thrives when these grotesque distortions of history diminish it."

Six million European Jews were killed by the Nazi German regime and its allies during the Holocaust, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The nonprofit fact-checking website PolitiFact has said gun regulations in Nazi Germany "did not help advance the Holocaust."

Stu Sandler, a Michigan Republican political consultant who is Jewish, said he hoped Karamo would take down the post likening the gun bills to World War II genocide.

"Simple rules. Only use holocaust imagery/examples when talking about the Holocaust or other genocides," Standler wrote on Twitter. "Hopefully the tweet in question will be taken down."

Meghan Reckling, former chairwoman of the Livingston County Republican Party, also was critical of the Michigan GOP's posts. She said the state party has two main jobs: raising money and winning elections.

"Memes like this don’t help further either of those goals," Reckling tweeted.

Reagan quote debated

Trott, who served two terms in the U.S. House, referenced the party's use of a quote from former President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, in the gun posts.

"President Reagan once stated, 'If we lose #freedom here, there is nowhere else to escape to. This is the last stand on Earth,'" the Michigan GOP tweeted with the meme.

Reagan was a great communicator who brought people together and didn't play on hatred, Trott said.

Reagan, who was shot in the chest during an attempted assassination in 1981, also advocated for background checks and a waiting period for handgun purchases.

"With the right to bear arms comes a great responsibility to use caution and common sense on handgun purchases," Reagan said in 1991, according to The New York Times. "And it's just plain common sense that there be a waiting period to allow local law-enforcement officials to conduct background checks on those who wish to purchase handguns."

The gun regulation bill package passed the Michigan Senate last week. The House was voting Wednesday night on the gun bills.

cmauger@detroitnews.com

Staff Writer Mark Hicks contributed.

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