Ben Carson Seeks to Clarify Holocaust Gun Comments in Op-Ed

2016 presidential hopeful Ben Carson sought to clarify recent comments he made regarding the Holocaust and gun control in a recent Op-Ed. 

Carson received criticism earlier this month for suggesting that there may have not been as much widespread slaughter during the Holocaust if the Jewish population had been armed, suggesting that dictators often seek to take civilians' guns as the first attack on their personal freedoms.

The retired neurosurgeon's comments resulted in criticism from the Anti-Defamation League, which called Carson's comments "inaccurate."

"Ben Carson has a right to his views on gun control, but the notion that Hitler's gun-control policy contributed to the Holocaust is historically inaccurate. The small number of personal firearms available to Germany's Jews in 1938 could in no way have stopped the totalitarian power of the Nazi German state," the group said in a statement.

In an Op-Ed for The Jerusalem Post, Carson recently sought to clarify his comments, saying: "I never intended for my words to diminish the enormity of the tragedy or in any way to cause any pain for Holocaust survivors or their families."

"Both those who perished and those who survived the Nazi camps deserve our deepest reverence, as do the partisan fighters who rose in armed opposition," the 2016 presidential hopeful added. 

Carson added in the Op-Ed that the world will never know what would "have been the impact on Hitler's war machine if his victims had had more access to guns."