Rand Paul on plagiarism charges: If dueling were legal in Kentucky...

Sen. Rand Paul said Sunday that accusations of plagiarism in his speeches makes him wish dueling were legal in Kentucky.

“I take it as an insult, and I will not lie down and say people can call me dishonest, misleading or misrepresenting -- I have never intentionally done so and like I say, 'If dueling were legal in Kentucky, if they keep it up, you know it’d be a duel challenge,' " Paul said on ABC's "This Week."

Media outlets including POLITICO, MSNBC and Buzzfeed have detailed instances in the Kentucky Republican's speeches where entire lines seemed to mimic verbatim other sources, including Wikipedia pages and stories from The Associated Press.

(WATCH: Rachel Maddow accuses Rand Paul of plagiarizing Wikipedia)

Asked about the charges on Sunday, Paul acknowledged the "footnote police" had been out in full force.

“I didn’t get into the secondary sources and say I quoted Einstein as according to an AP story or as according to Wikipedia," Paul said. "I think the spoken word shouldn’t be held to the same sort of standard that you have if you’re giving a scientific paper. I’ve written scientific papers, I know how to footnote things, but we’ve never footnoted speeches, and if that’s the standard I’m going to be held to, yes, we will change and we will footnote things.”

Paul said "98 percent" of his speeches are extemporaneous and it's difficult to attribute sources the way you would in an academic paper, but he'll adjust if that's what's necessary according to the "hacks and haters."

“Is that nitpicking? Is referring to the person enough, or do I have to refer to the original source where I got the quote from the person?” Paul said. “If it’s required, I’ll do it, but I think I’m being unfairly targeted by a bunch of hacks and haters, and I’m just not going to put up with people casting aspersions on my character.”