Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has been accused of a making an “assassination threat” against his rival Hillary Clinton.
The Republican presidential nominee, who was speaking at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Tuesday about the next president’s power to appoint Supreme Court judges, said that Clinton would appoint liberal justices if she wins the presidency, which would be a threat to gun ownership rights, reports the Guardian.
“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the second amendment. If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the second amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know. But I’ll tell you what, that will be a horrible day,” he said.
The second amendment to the Constitution protects the right of Americans to bear arms for self defense. Trump has accused his Democratic rival of wanting to abolish it, a charge that she denies.
The ‘assassination threat’ report drew a lot of criticism for Trump as well as for the media as some campaigners for gun control expressed outrage at his off-the-cuff remark while others rebuffed the report as a ‘distraction created by the dishonest media.’
Robby Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, said: “This is simple – what Trump is saying is dangerous. A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way.” However, Trump later tried to clarify that he was referring to the political movement around the second amendment. Trump’s campaign also insisted that his words had been misunderstood.
Jason Miller, a spokesperson, explained the comments saying, “It’s called the power of unification. second amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power. And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won’t be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump.”
