“If Hillary Clinton gets elected, I think she’s going to decimate the Second Amendment, if not abolish it”. “There can be no other interpretation”, he said.
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“Give me a break”, Trump agreed. “You know why, because you’re Americans”, Giuliani said.
Speaking about Trump’s presidential bid, he added: “You get to a certain point in this business and you’re not just responsible for what you say, you are responsible for what people hear”.
Trump’s comments were interpreted by many as a threat of violence against his Democratic rival with Clinton campaign decrying the remark as “dangerous”.
Trump said, “Nobody in that room thought anything other than what you just said…”
First, as reporters on the scene discovered, Trump’s ramble about the Second Amendment left his supporters unsure of what he meant.
Critics quickly pounced on Trump, saying he was suggesting gun advocates could shoot Clinton to stop her from making court picks.
Within minutes of him uttering the words, the criticism began to mount and Mr Trump issued a statement saying he was referring to the political power of gun rights advocates.
He said he used to tell his senior staff at the Central Intelligence Agency, “you get to a certain point in this business, you’re not just responsible for what you say, you’re responsible for what people hear”.
“There is something Second Amendment supporters can do”.
“Quite frankly, it seems to be such a circus, more so than about politics and what’s best for like the country and everything”, said Michael Graham, of Warren.
The National Rifle Association’s spokeswoman Jennifer Baker said the outrage over Mr Trump’s comments were a “distraction created by the dishonest media”.
If they wanted to reinforce Trump’s call for gun violence against Clinton, they could not have chosen a better moment to do so. The official said the campaign was not aware that he was there until afterward. “I said pro-2A citizens must organise and get out vote to save our Constitution!” But – but I’ll tell you what.
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Trump’s perceived violation of political norms – candidates don’t typically call for physically hurting opponents – was all the more striking because the position he was criticizing isn’t one that Clinton even holds. “But she doesn’t believe in your right to keep a gun at home for self defense”, the ad falsely states. “If you care about this election, you care about the Second Amendement… you have to make sure you’re united, you’re together, and you go to the ballot box and stop Hillary Clinton”.
