Ryan: Trump guns remark 'sounds like a joke gone bad'

House Speaker Paul Ryan declined to join the criticism of Donald Trump over the GOP nominee’s casual aside Tuesday that gun owners might somehow take matters into their own hands to stop Hillary Clinton from appointing federal judges as president.

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday night in Wisconsin after his landslide win in a GOP primary, Ryan said he hadn't actually heard Trump's remarks but he had heard about them.


"I've been a little busy," Ryan said. "It sounds like a joke gone bad. You should never joke about that. I hope he clears it up quickly."



Trump sparked the latest uproar of his campaign earlier in the day when he veered off script during a rally.

“Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish, the Second Amendment,” he said. “By the way, and 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.”

Trump later said the comment wasn't meant as a joke. Blaming the media for manufacturing another controversy, he told CBS that his point was that gun owners should exert their collective voting power to stop Clinton from winning.



Ryan has called out Trump on several occasions in the past, including over his comments questioning the objectivity of a judge because of his Mexican descent, and over the nominee's call to bar Muslims from immigrating to the United States.



