Allen West told a crowd at a campaign stop in 2010 that gun control in Germany was essentially responsible for the Holocaust — the same argument made by Joe the Plumber in a video this past week.
"In 1930, there was a gentleman in Germany who took away private gun ownership and you know what happened to that population," West says in the video. "You must be well informed and well armed, because this government we have right now is a tyrannical government."
The statement echoes what Samuel Wurzelbacher (a.k.a. Joe the Plumber) said this week in a campaign video.
"In 1939, Germany established gun control," Wurzelbacher says in his video while loading a gun. "From 1939 to 1945, six million Jews and seven million others, unable to defend themselves, were exterminated."
West represents Florida's 22nd congressional district, while Wurzelbacher is running against Marcy Kaptur to represent Ohio's 9th district. West endorsed Wurzelbacher in April, saying "One of the great things about Joe is that he represents the genuineness of the American people."
West's spokeswoman did not immediately return a request for comment.
UPDATE: Here's another time West used this line, in 2010 in Jupiter, Florida (at around the 5-minute mark):
