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Trump Tells Gun Owners|to Stop Hillary Clinton

(CN) - Donald Trump's comments took a sinister turn at a campaign rally Tuesday when he appeared to suggest that gun owners "could do" something to prevent Hillary Clinton from taking away their Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Trump was speaking at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, and repeating his regular claim that Clinton intends to "essentially abolish" the Second Amendment, by appointing liberal justices to the Supreme Court.

However, he chose to punctuate that line with an aside that drew an immediate rebuke from the Clinton campaign.

"By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks," Trump said. "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don't know."

Trump went on to say that it "will be a horrible day ... if Hillary gets to put her judges in."

"Right now we're tied," he continued. "You see what's going on. We're tied 'cause Scalia, this was not supposed to happen. Justice Scalia was going to be around for ten more years, at least, and this is what happened. That was a horrible thing, So now look at it. So Hillary essentially wants to abolish the second amendment."

Later, he added: "But if you don't do what's the right thing, you're not going to have - either you're not going to have a Second Amendment or you're not going to have much of it left.

"And you're not going to be able to protect yourselves, which you need. Which you need! When the bad guys burst into your hours, they're not looking about Second Amendments and 'do I have the right to do this,'" Trump said. "The bad guys aren't going to be giving up their weapons. But the good people will say, 'Oh, well, that's the law.' No, no. Not going to happen. We can't let it happen. We can't let it happen."

Robby Mook, Clinton's campaign manager, immediately denounced the Republican presidential candidate, accusing Trump of trying to incite violence.

"What Trump is saying is dangerous," Mook said in a statement. "A person seeking to be the President of the United States should not suggest violence in any way."

Trump's campaign insists the Clinton campaign was creating an issue where none existed.

Jason Miller, Trump's communications director said the candidate was referring to the "amazing spirit" of supporters of the Second Amendment, and of how "tremendously unified" they are, qualities that give 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," Miller said.

The billionaire real estate developer also touted controversy Tuesday by advocating for strict voter ID laws, which he said are an absolute necessity if one wants to guarantee elections are fair and above-board.

Trump's comments come in the wake of a Fourth Circuit ruling throwing out North Carolina restrictive voter ID law on the grounds that it was enacted with "discriminatory intent.'

The unanimous July 29 ruling also invalidated changes the state's Republican lawmakers made to early voting, same-day registration, out-of-precinct voting, and preregistration rules.

"The record makes clear that the historical origin of the challenged provisions in this statute is not the innocuous back-and-forth of routine partisan struggle that the State suggests and that the district court accepted," U.S. Circuit Judge Diana Motz wrote on behalf of the three-judge panel. "Rather, the General Assembly enacted them in the immediate aftermath of unprecedented African American voter participation in a state with a troubled racial history and racially polarized voting. The district court clearly erred in ignoring or dismissing this historical background evidence, all of which supports a finding of discriminatory intent."

North Carolina has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for a stay on the ruling.

Trump made no mention of why the court ruled as it did, or suggested what he believes the Supreme Court might do, but instead asked the large crowd of supporters in Wilmington, "Why are we not having voter ID?"

A moment later, continuing to hammer on the integrity of the upcoming general election, he assured the crowd "I would never ask you to vote 15 times," implying that Hillary Clinton probably would.

Joining Trump onstage was a surprise guest - former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who introduced the presidential contender as the leader of a "movement" that would defeat Clinton in November.

He then launched into a diatribe about Clinton and her use of a private email server while she was secretary of state, accusing her of "extreme carelessness."

But when a large portion of the crowd began shouting "Lock her up," Giuliani quieted them.

Instead of chanting, he said, they must put the energy into voting for Trump and encouraging their friends to do so as well.

According to Giuliani, Trump is the right person to wield "a broom to clean the damn place out."

Photo caption:

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, in Wilmington, N.C. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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