A viral campaign video in which Samuel "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacher links gun control to the Holocaust has sickened some members of Ohio's Jewish community, who sent the GOP congressional candidate a letter on Thursday that calls his claims "misguided," "highly offensive" and "harmful to the Jewish community."

"As members of Ohio's Jewish community, we are insulted by your claim that the Holocaust can be directly linked to gun control," the letter says. "By blaming gun control for the deaths of millions of innocent people, you belie and trivialize the heinous crimes and horrific event brought on by a brutally repressive government."

The video that Wurzelbacher posted on YouTube shows him loading a gun and firing it at a variety of targets as he talks about gun control.

"In 1911, Turkey established gun control," he says. "From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves were exterminated."

"In 1939, Germany established gun control," Wurzelbacher continues. "From 1939 to 1945, six million Jews and seven million others unable to defend themselves were exterminated. I love America."

Wurzelbacher campaign spokesman Phil Christofanelli said the video has been misinterpreted.

"Its point was to suggest that when a people is disarmed, human rights violations occur more easily," Christofanelli said.

He said that his candidate, who is seeking the 9th district congressional seat currently held by Democrat Marcy Kaptur, has had Jewish people "call our office and thank us for the video," and notes that groups like Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership make points similar to those made by Wurzelbacher.

"If Joe the Plumber really believes that gun control led to the Holocaust, then obviously the pipes to his brain are clogged," said Kaptur spokesman Steve Fought.

The letter signed by 31 people was put together by Mitch Cronig, a Shaker Heights electrical engineer who himself owns a gun. Others who signed the letter include University of Akron Law School dean Martin H. Belsky, and Stuart Garson, a lawyer who heads the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.

"The thinking that we are only protected because we have weapons makes no sense," Cronig said. "It is offensive."

Cronig said he was also offended that Wurzelbacher used the Holocaust to make a political statement. The letter urges him not to "attempt to exploit the painful memories of the Holocaust to advance your political ambitions."

"Jews are sensitive about this because our relatives were gassed and burned, not his, and we are very protective of their memory," said Cronig.