I’m from Sandy Hook – Trump’s comments on ‘Second Amendment people’ are sickening

“If she gets to pick – if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is, I don’t know.”

With these words – spoken at a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina – presidential candidate Donald Trump sailed right past the line of being a pompous bully and moved straight towards becoming the potential inspiration for extreme violence.

It’s still unclear exactly what Trump intended with this statement. But the fact that it can – and has been – construed as a call to arms for American gun owners is deeply concerning to me, as an American and as a resident of Sandy Hook.

The shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 was perpetrated by someone who should not have had access to the firearms that he did, as is the case for thousands of current American gun owners, and he found cause to commit an atrocity that shook the nation. One of America’s biggest struggles with guns is keeping them out of the hands of those who do not use them responsibly and safely – so Trump essentially saying he supports the use of guns against Clinton is a seriously dangerous statement.

Connecticut senator Chris Murphy, who has campaigned for gun law reform, tweeted in response to Trump’s speech:

Trump’s campaign responded to the backlash, claiming Trump only meant to reference the voting power of gun rights advocates.

But the issue with the statement is not what he truly meant – it is the fact that he said it just like that, and there are millions of Americans listening to every word he says. There is serious potential for someone to take Trump’s words to heart and attempt violence towards Clinton or members of her team. Studies and interviews have shown that many mass shooters take inspiration from the media – whether that’s other shooters or gun advocates. Furthermore, one of the widest-held beliefs of the National Rifle Organization is that Democrats have a desire to “wage war” on gun owners and remove firearms from owners. Trump is adding fuel to this dangerous fire and setting a spark on an already chafing debate.

I fear that Trump –  true to precedent – has spoken hotly and not stopped to consider the consequences of his words, and I wonder if this has the potential to result in yet another American gun tragedy.

The massacre at Sandy Hook tore apart the lives of my entire town. Twenty-six families are moving towards the four year anniversary of losing a loved one, most of them children who would have been looking forward to entering the fifth grade this September. Over the last three and a half years we have been buffeted by wave after wave of painful memories as news reports of shooting after shooting roll across our televisions, and to see Donald Trump so casually recommending gun violence as a solution to a political adversary is nothing short of sickening and insulting.

Donald Trump must watch his words before he becomes responsible for America’s next gun tragedy.