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As he defends a string of controversial comments he made in the wake of last week’s mass shooting in Oregon, Ben Carson just keeps one-upping himself. Appearing on CNN on Thursday afternoon, Carson was questioned by Wolf Blitzer on a claim in his recent book, A More Perfect Union, in which he connects the rise of Adolf Hitler to gun control. “There were a number of countries where tyranny reigned, and before it happened, they disarmed the people,” Carson said. “That was my point.”

When Blitzer pressed further and asked whether an absence of gun control laws in Europe would have saved 6 million Jews from being slaughtered, Carson responded: “I think the likelihood of Hitler being able to accomplish his goals would have been greatly diminished if the people had been armed.”