CLEVELAND, Ohio - During a Tuesday appearance at the City Club of Cleveland, former U.S. Rep. and Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Dennis Kucinich went on the attack against primary rival Richard Cordray, saying Cordray wasn't tough enough on guns or the gun lobby.

Since the mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., left 17 dead, a national debate has intensified about gun legislation. One specific target has been the National Rifle Association, which has drawn the ire of those who want to see some kind of change.

That debate has spilled into the governor's race, with Kucinich taking on the mantle of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, playing Cordray as the gun-loving, NRA-endorsed Democrat who won't take on the issue.

During his City Club speech, Kucinich used nearly 20 minutes to attack Cordray for his stance on guns, particularly for his time as Ohio attorney general when Cordray was part of the lawsuit to end individual cities' bans on assault weapons.

"Mr. Cordray, unfortunately, stood with the NRA against the states, specifically against the cities of Cleveland and Columbus," Kucinich said. "For his efforts in the Ohio Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the gun lobby, he earned an 'A' from the NRA. He was the first Democrat on the case. The first Democratic state official in the nation to work on this case with them."

The Buckeye Firearms Association endorsed Cordray in both 2006 and 2010 - the year he faced now-Attorney General Mike DeWine, who could be his opponent this time around. DeWine recently received the endorsement of the Buckeye Firearms Association for the 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary.

Kucinich said that past coziness between Cordray and gun rights organizations shows Cordray was in cahoots with the gun lobby.

"As attorney general, Mr. Cordray clearly made his office an extension of the NRA, even bragging to gun groups that he seized the 'opportunity' to use the power of his office to represent their interests on assault weapons and all gun issues," Kucinich said.

In an interview with cleveland.com following his City Club appearance, Kucinich said he plans to make guns an issue throughout the primary - and into the general election should he win.

"We're in a whole new place with respect to assault weapons, and it is a big issue in this campaign," Kucinich said. "Not just our hopes and our intent to ban assault weapons in Ohio, but the history becomes relevant here. And the fact that Ohio had a Democratic attorney general who just sold out to the NRA, who became their boy, that is an issue because it relates to questions of integrity."

Mike Gwin, a spokesman for Cordray's campaign, said Kucinich's outrage was inauthentic.

"It's disappointing to see Kucinich tell Ohio voters one thing, and his former Fox News co-workers Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly another, but it's hardly surprising given that he's spent 50 years in politics engaged in constant grandstanding, and has taken both sides of every issue when it's politically convenient," Gwin said, referring to two appearances on Fox News where Kucinich said gun legislation wouldn't solve the underlying problems with violence.

Gwin added that Cordray supported changes like banning high-capacity magazines and bump stocks.