US Election 2016: Donald Trump 'makes assassination threat against Hillary Clinton'
Donald Trump has been accused of making an assassination threat against his presidential rival Hillary Clinton, sparking fresh outrage and plunging his campaign into another crisis.
The controversial Republican candidate said Mrs Clinton would put the Second Amendment - the right to bear arms - at risk if she was elected and allowed to exercise her right to appoint supreme court justices.
Video report by ITV News Correspondent Martin Geissler
“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the second amendment,” he told a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina.
“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.”
The US Secret Service has reportedly had "more than one" conversation with Mr Trump's campaign about his comments.
The podium remarks immediately sparked a backlash, with many accusing him of openly encouraging violence against his Democratic opponent and rejecting his later claim that he was only urging the gun-lobby to vote.
His vocal critics included the daughter of Dawn Hochsprung, the principal of Sandy Hook Elementary School who was among 26 people massacred by Adam Lanza in 2012.
Erica L Smegielski called out Mr Trump on Twitter.
Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut - where the Sandy Hook massacre took place - tweeted that Mr Trump had made an "assassination threat".
Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook called Trump's comments "dangerous" and added: "A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way."
Michael Hayden, the former director of the CIA, said: “Well, let me say, if someone had have said that outside the hall he’d be in the back of a police wagon now with the secret service questioning him.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Clinton supporter who has riled Trump in the past, said the Republican candidate was only making "death threats" because he "can't handle the fact that he's losing to a girl".
Prominent Republican Paul Ryan, the House Speaker, called on Mr Trump to clarify his remarks but played down the comments, saying they sounded like "a joke gone bad".
He told reporters: "I heard about this Second Amendment quote. It sounds like just a joke gone bad. I hope he clears it up very quickly. You should never joke about something like that."
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani - a prominent Trump supporter - threatened to refuel the argument while dismissing any sense of threat in the presidential candidate's language.
"We know that Donald Trump is not particularly indirect," he told US TV show Good Morning America. "If Donald Trump was going to say something like that, he’d say something like that."
Giuliani pointed to the muted crowd reaction as proof the words weren't threatening, provocatively claiming they would have whooped at an indirect reference to Clinton's killing.
"With a crowd like that, if that’s what they thought he meant, they’d have gone wild," he said.
The Trump campaign team insisted their candidate's comments had been misinterpreted by the "dishonest media" and that he was urging gun supporters to stop Mrs Clinton by voting at the ballot box.
Mr Trump tweeted that the media was "desperate to distract from Clinton's anti-second amendment stance".
The pro-gun lobby added its support of Trump, with the National Riffle Association (NRA) backing him in a series of Tweets and saying Clinton would "leave you defenceless".
They also pointed to a 2008 speech by Joe Biden in which he told an audience in Virginia: "I guarantee you, Barack Obama ain't taking my shotgun" and "if he [Obama] tries to fool with my Beretta, he's got a problem".
The NRA appeared to draw a parallel with Trump's comments, asking whether the vice-president's words - which were made in support of Obama - should be seen as suggestive of violence.
The Secret Service also appeared to weigh in on the row, tweeting somewhat cryptically that the Service was "aware" of Trump's comments.
Trump's latest comments come as he attempts to get his campaign back on track.
He has been plagued by negative headlines with a well-publicised row with the parents of a dead Muslim soldier a particular low point.
Leading Republicans and top US security agents have also come out to say they will not vote for him on November 8.