TODAY IN STUPID: Joe The Plumber Claims That Gun Control Caused The Holocaust

Samuel Wurzelbacher, the Ohio congressional candidate better known as “Joe The Plumber,” has released a stunning new campaign ad which claims that gun control caused both the Holocaust and the Armenian genocide.

“In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917 one-point-five million Armenians, unable to defend themselves were exterminated,” Wurzelbacher says over video of him shooting tomatoes with a shotgun. “In 1939, Germany established gun control. From 1939 to 1945, six million Jews and seven million others unable to defend themselves were exterminated.”

The outrageous video caused an immediate uproar, forcing Wurzelbacher to defend himself to Politico.

“I’m just stating the fact that history is very important — people need to understand what happened,” Wurzelbacher said without a hint of irony. Later in the interview, he added “If people are looking to be offended by this video, they are probably serving a political agenda. Unfortunately there are a lot of whiners out there.”

Wurzelbacher’s spokesman, Phil Christofanelli, also defended the ad to The New York Observer’s Hunter Walker, suggesting that gun control may have been responsible for slavery in America as well.

Unamused by Wurzelbacher’s antics, the National Jewish Democratic Council released the following statement:

Using the memories of the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust to make a political point is never appropriate, under any circumstances. For Ohio Republican House candidate Samuel Wurzelbacher to imply that these innocent lives were taken because of gun control laws is simply beyond the pale. Wurzelbacher—who is just the latest in a long line of Republicans who seem to think it is acceptable to use the Holocaust for political gain—must apologize and remove this offensive video immediately.

Wurzelbacher is considered a heavy underdog in his race against incumbent Democrat Marcy Kaptur, whose campaigns seem to attract Holocaust-related controversy. Her previous opponent, Richard Iott, was criticized throughout the campaign for dressing up as a Nazi in what he called “a father-son bonding thing.”