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Jane Sanders has defended her husband's record on guns. | AP Photo Jane Sanders hits Clinton for politicizing families of gun victims

As Hillary Clinton held the latest in a series of panels and discussions with family members of those affected by gun violence, Bernie Sanders' top personal surrogate laced into her approach Thursday.

"I just don't like to see it be politicized. I think that Secretary Clinton's gun record is a lot more spotty than Bernie's," Jane Sanders, the wife of the Democratic presidential candidate, said in an interview with CNN, after the network cut away from coverage of Clinton's panel in Hartford, Connecticut, that included, among others, the daughter of the principal killed at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012.

Sanders noted that her husband has, since 1988, "been consistently supportive of instant background checks, opposed to assault weapons, the sale and manufacture of assault weapons, for closing the gun show loophole, ending the strawman problem. And I think that's been since 1988."

By contrast, she remarked that when Clinton ran for Senate in New York, "she was very pro-gun control."

"When she ran for the presidency against Barack Obama, she was very anti-gun control in 2008," Sanders remarked. "And now that she's running against Bernie, she's back to for gun control."

The bottom line, Sanders said, is that both candidates agree that guns are an issue but that they disagree on the solution.

Nelba Marquez-Greene, whose daughter was killed at Sandy Hook in 2012, remarked before Sanders' comments that she came to the event "knowing I would be the subject of ridicule and ire, online harassment and abuse and knowing that people would make mean comments like 'Oh there goes Hillary, using those Sandy Hook families.'"

Clinton remarked that those "who take a stand against gun violence and against the gun lobby ... are subjected to some of the most vile harassment on the internet that you can imagine."