Trump polls audience at conservative conference on whether they'd have the 2nd Amendment or tax cuts

Screenshot/ABC

• President Donald Trump asked the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday whether they'd rather have tax cuts or their Second Amendment rights.
• A mass shooting at a Florida high school last week reignited the national debate on gun control.

In a wild speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference the week after one of the deadliest school shootings in US history, President Donald Trump polled the audience on whether they'd have Second Amendment rights - or tax cuts.

He warned Republicans that if they get "complacent" in future elections, Democrats could retake Congress and repeal tax cuts and install liberal judges.

"They will take away those massive tax cuts and they will take away your Second Amendment, which we will never allow to happen," Trump said.

"By the way, if you only had a choice of one, what would you rather have? The Second Amendment or the tax cuts, go ahead!" Trump said, pointing to the crowd.

The Second Amendment, which protects Americans' right to bear arms, seemed to win to rousing cheers.

"I'm gonna leave it at the Second Amendment, I don't want to get into that battle, all right," Trump said.

Police have said 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last week. The shooting has reignited the national debate on gun control.

At the end of last year, Trump signed into law a large tax-cut bill.