US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has suggested that "Second Amendment people" - gun owners - could stop Hillary Clinton from winning the White House and picking new US Supreme Court justices.
It was not immediately clear exactly what Mr Trump meant by his remarks, but they were quickly highlighted by US media and social media users who expressed concern that the Republican nominee was advocating, in jest or not, that Mrs Clinton or the judges could be shot.
"Hillary wants to essentially abolish the second Amendment," Mr Trump told a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, referring to the US Constitution's clause that enshrines the rights of Americans to bear arms.
"If she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do folks," he said. "Although the Second Amendment people - maybe there is, I don't know."
The Trump campaign swiftly issued its own statement to clarify the businessman's remarks, branding the media as "dishonest" and saying he meant that gun rights advocates were a powerful voting force.
"It's called the power of unification - Second Amendment people have amazing spirit and are tremendously unified, which gives them great political power," senior Trump communications advisor Jason Miller said.
"And this year, they will be voting in record numbers, and it won't be for Hillary Clinton, it will be for Donald Trump."
But Mrs Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook blasted Mr Trump for using "dangerous" language.
He said: "A person seeking to be the president of the United States should not suggest violence in any way."
Mr Trump has repeatedly bashed his opponent for seeking to abolish gun rights, while Mrs Clinton has said she favors tougher gun controls.
Trump would be 'dangerous' say US security experts
Earlier, 50 prominent Republican national security officials, including a former CIA director, called party Mr Trump unqualified to lead the country and said he would be "the most reckless president in American history".
The statement was the latest repudiation of Mr Trump's candidacy by veteran Republican national security specialists, and was remarkable for the harshness of its language.
"Mr Trump lacks the character, values, and experience to be president. He weakens US moral authority as the leader of the free world.
"He appears to lack basic knowledge about and belief in the US Constitution, US laws and US institutions, including religious tolerance, freedom of the press, and an independent judiciary," the statement said.
"None of us will vote for Donald Trump," they said in the statement, which noted that some signatories also have doubts about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
"From a foreign policy perspective, Donald Trump is not qualified to be president and commander in chief," according to the statement, which was first reported in the New York Times.
"Indeed, we are convinced that he would be a dangerous president and would put at risk our country's national security and well-being."
The signatories, some of whom worked for more than one Republican president, included former Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden, who also headed the National Security Agency; former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff; former Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte; and two former US trade representatives, Carla Hills and Robert Zoelick.
Other signatories included former senior State Department, Pentagon and National Security Council officials who helped plan and oversee the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
Mr Trump has harshly criticised the Iraq operation, although when radio host Howard Stern asked him in 2002 if he favoured invading Iraq, Mr Trump said he guessed he did.
The statement was organised by Philip Zelikow, who served as a top adviser to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Mr Trump responded with a statement deriding the signatories as members of "the failed Washington elite" who "deserve the blame for making the world such a dangerous place".
"These insiders - along with Hillary Clinton - are the owners of the disastrous decisions to invade Iraq, allow Americans to die in Benghazi, and they are the ones who allowed the rise of ISIS," he continued, using an acronym for the so-called Islamic State militant group.
