Alaska Congressman Don Young suggested to an audience in Juneau last week that the Holocaust could have been avoided had Jewish people been armed.
“How many millions of people were shot and killed because they were unarmed? Fifty million in Russia,” Young said. “How many Jews were put in the ovens because they were unarmed?”
Young made the remarks at a gathering of the Alaska Municipal League and offered the idea in response to how school safety could be improved. The comment was recorded by Alaska Democrat Dimitri Shein who is planning to challenge Young for the seat he has occupied for more than four decades.
The story was previously reported by Alaska Public Media.
While the idea has been trotted out as a fringe pro-gun talking points for years, it’s an unusual position to be embraced by a sitting United States congressman. Young currently maintains an A+ ratings from the National Rifle Association.
In a statement, Young’s office said that his remarks were taken out of context.
“Congressman Young’s statement last week has been taken entirely out of context,” it read. “He was referencing the fact that when Hitler confiscated firearms from Jewish Germans, those communities were less able to defend themselves. 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.”
Rep Don Young's spox emails this statement in response to his comments reported here: https://t.co/KXY0aWHoLI pic.twitter.com/BL6WPmaf0u
— Alex Moe (@alexmoeflo) February 28, 2018
Online, however, that explanation proved insufficient and Young was savaged by Blue Check Twitter — and beyond.
https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/968936248315469829
“How many Jews were put in the ovens because they were unarmed?”
*taps Don Young on shoulder*
“Get my family’s genocide out of your mouth and find another way to advertise your status as the second most NRA-funded member in Congress.” pic.twitter.com/2sObkRc8gK
— One Hot Mess AK (@libbybakalar) February 27, 2018
What a disgrace Don Young is to exploit the Holocaust like this. Guess who had entire armies, with plenty of guns, and suffered at the hands of the Nazis? Virtually every single nation on the European continent. https://t.co/LmkZvxLzoa
— Julie Roginsky (@julieroginsky) February 28, 2018
https://twitter.com/mattyglesias/status/968929364174876672
Republican Alaska Rep. Don Young: “How many Jews were put in the ovens because they were unarmed?”
—-> It took the greatest armies in the world YEARS to beat Hitler, but this dude thinking he can Rambo his way out of anything is the real problem.
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) February 28, 2018
Get a load of this >>> Rep. Don Young (R-AK) “armed Jews could have prevented the Holocaust.” HUD Sec’y Ben Carson said same thing when he was running for pres. No wonder we have a gov. that can’t function at any level under the GOP, they are brain-dead. https://t.co/s0MPgMSmTl
— alfromct (@alfromct) February 28, 2018
Irony and stupidity – Rep Don Young (R-AK) says that more Jews would have survived if they had guns. The irony is that if Jews in the US have anything to worry about, it is the far right of the GOP and their guns.https://t.co/VmXfAhKrcI
— Matthew J Lavelle (@MatthewJLavelle) February 28, 2018