Sanders Defends Record On Guns: I Have A D- Rating From The NRA (VIDEO)

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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Sunday defended his record on guns, which has come under scrutiny in the wake of the shooting death of two Virginia journalists.

While campaigning for Hillary Clinton last week, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy (D) said that Clinton’s “position among the Democrats is a lot more popular than his position” on gun control, referring to Sanders.

On CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, host Jake tapper asked the senator to respond to Malloy’s comment.

Sanders emphasized that he has a lifetime D- grade with the NRA and said that he supports stronger background checks.

“I do not accept the fact that I have been weak on this issue. In fact, I have been strong on this issue,” he told Tapper. “And in fact, coming from a rural state which has almost no gun control, I think I can get beyond the noise and all of these arguments and people shouting at each other, and come up with real, constructive gun control legislation which most significantly gets guns out of the hands of people who should not have them.”

The senator also noted that he has voted to ban some semi-automatic weapons and that he believes the U.S. needs better mental health care.

Watch part of Sanders’ interview via CNN:

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