FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Saturday that GOP rival Donald Trump's gun policies are "not just way out there" but "dangerous" and would make America less safe.

"This is someone running to be president of the United States of America -- a country facing a gun violence epidemic -- and he's talking about more guns in our schools. He's talking about more hatred and division in our streets," Clinton said of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

She delivered her remarks in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., at a conference organized by the Trayvon Martin Foundation to help mothers who have lost children or family members to gun violence.

It was led by Sybrina Fulton, whose 17-year-old son, Trayvon Martin, was fatally shot by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman in 2012. She has campaigned with Clinton.

"The reason why I stand with her is because she first stood with me," Fulton said before introducing Clinton to more than 200 people packed inside a hotel banquet room.

Queen Thompson Brown, a Miami mother whose son was the victim of gun violence in 2006 and who has mentored Fulton, said she and others do not want to take away guns from Americans but hope to "promote common-sense gun laws."

Clinton praised the courage of Fulton and others who had endured the losses of loved ones to gun violence or while in police custody.

"We have a moral obligation to protect our children no matter what ZIP code they live in," Clinton said.

She then turned her attention to Trump and his gun policies.

"If you want to imagine what Trump's America will look like, picture more kids at risk of violence and bigotry, picture more anger and fear," she said.

Clinton repeated her pledge to fight the powerful National Rifle Association lobby, saying, "We will not be silenced; we will not be intimidated."

Earlier Saturday, a day after Trump told people at an NRA convention in Louisville, Ky., that Clinton would strip away their right to bear arms, he suggested on social media that Clinton, who he thinks toes a hard line on gun control, should disarm her Secret Service team.

"Crooked Hillary wants to get rid of all guns, and yet she is surrounded by bodyguards who are fully armed," Trump tweeted Saturday morning. "No more guns to protect Hillary!"

The gun-rights organization endorsed Trump, even though he had previously supported measures like an assault-weapons ban that the NRA vigorously opposes. The group applauded Trump's call for ending "gun-free zones" across the country.

As the primary races near an end, Clinton, Trump and supporters on both sides are looking toward the general election to focus their fundraising efforts.

Money lining up

The super political action committee backing Clinton has nearly $47 million in the bank as it gears up to pummel Trump with ads in the general election campaign.

The group, Priorities USA Action, raised more than $8 million in April, according to filings submitted Friday to the Federal Election Commission.

The haul was boosted by several seven-figure donations, including $1.5 million apiece from Haim Saban, an entertainment mogul, and his wife, Cheryl, a philanthropist. The couple had previously given a combined $7 million to the group.

Alexander Soros, son of billionaire investor George Soros, also chipped in $1 million.

The group spent about $6.5 million in April, mostly on digital ads.

In all, the group has raised more than $76 million during the presidential election. And even while Clinton is still squaring off against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the Democratic primary, her outside backers have trained their attentions on Trump, with Priorities USA releasing its first on-air salvo in key general election states.

"As Republican special interests begin to coalesce around their nominee, our continued fundraising success is crucial to our efforts to take the fight to Trump from now until November," Guy Cecil, the group's chief strategist, said in a statement. "Priorities is ready to do everything we can to contrast Hillary Clinton's record with a con man like Donald Trump, who is too divisive and dangerous to ever be president of the United States."

Sanders' campaign, meanwhile, had less than $6 million at the start of May, a critical cash shortage as he fights to wrest the Democratic presidential nomination from Clinton.

The two were on roughly equal fundraising footing last month, with Clinton and Sanders each raising more than $25 million. But the Vermont senator spent almost $39 million to Clinton's $24 million, the reports showed.

Trump fundraising

Campaign finance reports filed late Friday show that Trump poured more than $7.5 million of his own money into his presidential campaign in April, bringing his total personal investment to more than $43 million since he declared his candidacy.

Trump, who swatted away 16 Republican rivals and relied heavily on wall-to-wall media coverage of his outsized personality and often inflammatory remarks, reported spending about $56 million during the primary. His final two rivals, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, dropped out of the race at the beginning of May.

In April, Trump spent nearly $9.4 million, according to his monthly filing with the Federal Election Commission. Trump's largest expense in April, about $2.6 million, was for advertisements. The campaign also spent more than $930,000 on direct mail. Other big-ticket items included roughly $585,000 in airfare paid to Trump's TAG Air Inc.

While much of Trump's money has come from his own pocket, he reported about $1.7 million in donations last month. Those contributions have come mostly from people buying Trump's campaign merchandise, including the red "Make America Great Again" ball caps, and giving online through his campaign website. Trump didn't begin developing a team of fundraisers until recently, after he became the presumptive GOP nominee.

After months of bashing political fundraising as corrupt, Trump has recently warmed to the traditional campaign cash race, setting up a joint fundraising agreement with the Republican Party. His outside backers, however, still lag far behind the Clinton allies when it comes to building a war chest.

Great America PAC, the main super PAC boosting Trump, raised slightly more than $500,000 in April. The group owes $300,000 in debts, the bulk of which stem from a loan by Goldenwest Diamond Corp., owned by William Doddridge.

The group spent about $130,000 in April, the bulk of which went for a mix of television and digital ads. Now that Trump has pivoted toward the general election, the super PAC is ramping up its efforts; the group will spend $1 million on television ads in coming weeks, according to election commission filings.

An array of the Republican Party's largest financial backers remains resistant to Trump's presidential candidacy, forming a wall of opposition that could make it difficult for him to meet his goal of raising $1 billion before the November election.

Interviews and emails with more than 50 of the Republican Party's largest donors or their representatives revealed a measure of contempt and distrust toward their party's nominee that is unheard of in modern presidential politics.

More than a dozen of the party's most reliable individual contributors and wealthy families indicated that they would not give to or raise money for Trump. The group has contributed a combined $90 million to conservative candidates and causes in the past three federal elections, mainly to super PACs dedicated to electing Republican candidates.

Among the party's biggest financiers disavowing Trump are Paul Singer, a New York investor who has spent at least $28 million for national Republicans since the 2012 election; Joe Ricketts, the TD Ameritrade founder, who with his wife, Marlene, has spent nearly $30 million over the same period of time; hedge fund managers William Oberndorf and Seth Klarman; and Florida hospital executive Mike Fernandez.

"If it is Trump versus Clinton," Oberndorf said, "I will be voting for Hillary."

Information for this article was contributed by Sergio Bustos, Chad Day and Julie Bykowicz of The Associated Press; by Melanie Mason of the Los Angeles Times; by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns of The New York Times; and by Lindsey Bever of The Washington Post.

A Section on 05/22/2016