Trump dismisses controversy over his Second Amendment comment

Donald Trump denied advising "Second Amendment people" to take some sort of violent action against Hillary Clinton, telling Fox News' Sean Hannity to "give me a break" on Tuesday night. Trump claimed he was suggesting unity when he warned ambiguously during a rally that "if [Clinton] gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks — although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know."

"Nobody in that room thought anything other than [that]. This is a political movement. This is a strong powerful movement, the Second Amendment. Hillary wants to take your guns away. She wants to leave you unprotected in your home," Trump told Hannity.

Trump specifically blamed the media for the interpretation of his comments: "Media desperate to distract from Clinton's anti-2A stance. I said pro-2A citizens must organize and get out vote to save our Constitution!" he tweeted on Tuesday.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

But the media weren't the only ones to hear something sinister in Trump's comments. Clinton's campaign used the comments to fundraise, calling Trump's suggestion "dangerous," and even House Speaker Paul Ryan admitted, "It sounds like just a joke gone bad … You never joke about something like that."