WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump on Wednesday dismissed the call by a retired Supreme Court justice to repeal the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.

"THE SECOND AMENDMENT WILL NEVER BE REPEALED" Trump said in an emphatic tweet.

"As much as Democrats would like to see this happen, and despite the words yesterday of former Supreme Court Justice Stevens, NO WAY. We need more Republicans in 2018 and must ALWAYS hold the Supreme Court!"

John Paul Stevens, 97, authored an op-ed that was published in The New York Times Tuesday, calling for a repeal of the Second Amendment. The call came after the nationwide "March for Our Lives" protests by students Saturday urging action to end gun violence and beef up school safety.

"Rarely in my lifetime have I seen the type of civic engagement school children and their supporters demonstrated in Washington and other major cities throughout the country this past Saturday," the former judge wrote, adding, "They should demand a repeal of the Second Amendment."

The amendment states that "a well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

The powerful National Rifle Association dismissed it as a "radical idea" while White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said the president and his administration "still fully support the Second Amendment."