Ala. Senate candidate pulls out his gun during campaign rally

— -- Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore drew a handgun from his pocket during a campaign rally on Monday as he made a final push to sway voters ahead of the state's Republican runoff for U.S. Senate on Tuesday.

Moore -- who’s vying for the Republican Senate nomination against the incumbent, Sen. Luther Strange -- pulled the gun out in an effort to convince voters that he believes in the Second Amendment, or the right to bear arms.

“It’s been very hard for my wife and myself to wither two, nearly three months of negative ads that we couldn’t answer with money because we didn’t have it. Ads that were completely false. That I don’t believe in the Second Amendment,” Moore, a former chief justice, moments before he pulled out the handgun.

“I believe in the Second Amendment,” he continued.

The closely-watched Alabama runoff has pitted President Donald Trump against his former strategist, Steve Bannon, as the two have taken up opposite sides in the race.

Bannon, who appeared at the rally, and has endorsed Moore, while Trump has endorsed Strange.

Trump, who held a rally in Huntsville, Ala. for Strange on Friday, called into an Alabama radio show on Monday to urge support for him.

Trump predicted that Moore, whom he mistakenly called "Ray," would have a "hard time" in the December 12 general election against Democrat Doug Jones, The Associated Press reported on Monday.

"Luther Strange is going to be a great senator. He already has, and he has already helped me," Trump said on the "Rick & Bubba" radio show.

Moore was twice removed from the office of chief justice because of stands for the public display of the Ten Commandments and against gay marriage.

Propelled by his support from evangelical voters, Moore led Strange by about 25,000 votes in the crowded August primary and runoff polls have shown him leading, or in a dead heat with, Strange, according to the AP.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.