J.D. Vance Accused of 'Inviting Violence' at Rally By Bringing Up Assassins Days After Second Donald Trump Gunman Was Arrested

J.D. Vance has faced criticism for goading shooters to show up to his rallies days after a gunman was arrested for attempting to kill former President Donald Trump.

During the Ohio senator's speech in Sparta, Michigan, just after he told reporters the Democrats need to tone down their rhetoric following a second Trump assassination attempt, Vance said, "With close to 500 patriots in the state of Michigan in this building right now and outside, I'd like to see an assassin try to come in this room."

The crowd at the rally cheered, but several critics shared a clip of Vance's speech to mock Trump's VP pick for "stoking the fire" after blaming Democrats for "violent rhetoric."

One user on X, formerly known as Twitter, shared a video of Vance's comments and wrote, "Imagine saying this and not thinking you're the ones inviting violence. They'll take anything, including endangering people, over having to talk to Americans about their real plans for the country."

Another user commented, "They would love a 3rd assassination attempt. It steals the news cycle, riles up their base and they fundraise off it. And then they blame Democrats. It's how they roll."

A third person asked, "The beloved Republican mantra of 'The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.' Does this Clint Eastwood-style talk of tempting terror work with GOP voters?"

Vance previously claimed the Democrats' language surrounding Trump and the "fears for democracy" incited violence, appearing to lump some of the blame on them for the previous assassination attempts on the former president.

He told Fox News, "President Trump has now had two assassination attempts on his life in the past two months. Thank God that hasn't happened on the other side, but more importantly, a lot of this stuff seems motivated as much by censorship as anything else."

"It's not just that Donald Trump is bad — they say it's also that he is a threat to democracy. 'He must be eliminated. He must be silenced. He must be kicked off of social media,'" the VP hopeful continued. "When you pair these criticisms of his policy with the argument that he has to be censored, some person is going to take a gun into their own hands and decide to actually commit the ultimate act of censorship, which is killing somebody."

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As OK! previously reported, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was taken into custody after he was suspected of targeting Trump on his West Palm Beach golf course on Sunday, September 15.

The attempted assassin's son claimed he didn't hear anything about the incident until his father's name was connected to it on the news.

The former president was reportedly never in Routh's line of sight and was "about 400 yards away" from Trump when Secret Service agents foiled his alleged assassination attempt, which the FBI is currently investigating.