Suggests “Second Amendment people” could stop Clinton’s judges

At an August 9, 2016 rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, Trump warned that if Hillary Clinton won the election she would “essentially abolish the Second Amendment,” appointing justices who would take away gun rights, then added that “if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks—although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.” NPR, BBC, CNN, ABC, and Politico report that the remark was widely interpreted as hinting that gun owners might use violence to stop Clinton’s judicial nominees, prompting alarm from Democrats and concern from some Republicans, while his campaign claimed he meant political organizing. By musing that “Second Amendment people” might have a way to stop her after saying “nothing you can do,” he flirted with the idea of armed resistance against an elected opponent, normalizing violent fantasies in the middle of a presidential campaign.

"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know." — August 9, 2016 rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, where Trump said Clinton would “abolish” the Second Amendment and suggested that “Second Amendment people” might have a way to stop her judicial picks.