LANSING, Mich., March 23, 2023 — State Reps. Samantha Steckloff (D-Farmington Hills) and Noah Arbit (D-West Bloomfield) offered House Resolution 68 today to condemn divisive comparisons between commonsense gun regulations and Nazism. The resolution comes the day after the Michigan GOP tweeted out a comparison between Democratic legislation requiring the safe storage of firearms and the Nazis’ internment and genocide of Jewish people during the Holocaust.
“There is absolutely nothing in recorded history like the systematic murder of 6 million Jewish people by Nazis during the Holocaust,” Steckloff said. “It is utterly obscene to compare our efforts to defend women’s rights to control their own bodies and protect children from gun violence to death camps. Our public discourse has reached a new low. None of us, regardless of party, should stand for it.”
Kristina Karamo, chair of the Michigan Republican Party, made the comparison even more explicit in a follow-up tweet, which earned statewide, national and international scorn. She held a press conference defending the comparison later that day.
“I am sick of hearing Republicans wax poetic about ‘standing up for Israel,’ while shamelessly playing footsie with antisemites and abusing the memory of the Holocaust. This is hardly the first time we have witnessed the Republicans’ breathtaking callousness toward Jews and the Holocaust, and I know it will not be the last,” Arbit said. “The time has come for Michigan Republicans to look inward and decide to take on the rampant hate and extremism that permeates their ranks. Until then, Democrats will continue leading the fight to protect all Michiganders from hate, extremism and political violence.”
The resolution passed the House by voice vote. Arbit spoke on the House floor in support of the resolution; the speech can be seen here.