House Speaker Paul Ryan brushed off criticism of Donald Trump's latest eyebrow-raising remark, in which he seemed to encourage violence against Hillary Clinton.

As the Wisconsin Republican greeted the press after his decisive victory in his primary race Tuesday night, he was peppered with questions about the GOP nominee's comments at a rally in North Carolina Tuesday, which were interpreted by some as suggesting that "Second Amendment people" use violence to stop a President Clinton from naming pro-gun control justices to the Supreme Court.

"I've been a little busy," Ryan told reporters at a press conference in his hometown of Janesville. "It sounds like a joke gone bad. You should never joke about that. I hope he clears it up quickly."

Though the Democratic nominee has repeatedly said she is not in favor of repealing the Second Amendment, at the rally Tuesday in Wilmington, North Carolina, Trump warned his supporters, as he often does, that Clinton planned to "abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment."

"By the way, and if she gets to pick – if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks," he said with a shrug. Then he added: "Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don't know."

As the backlash mounted, Trump campaign aides offered differing explanations as to what he meant.

While the official statement from senior communications adviser Jason Miller said Trump was simply trying to rally gun rights activists to the polls on Election Day, spokeswoman Katrina Pierson said Trump's comments were not "what should happen … [but] what could happen."

Appearing on Fox News with Sean Hannity Tuesday night, Trump insisted he had been talking about unity.

Hannity, who has been criticized for giving Trump frequent access to an uncritical platform on his show, called the criticism of the Republican nominee "unfair" and "dishonest" before offering his own interpretation of Trump's comments.

"Obviously you're saying that there's a strong political movement within the Second Amendment, and if people mobilize and vote, they can stop Hillary from having this impact on the court," Hannity said. "But that's not how the media is spinning it."