Sen. Claire McCaskill Thursday argued back at the National Rifle Association for giving her a grade of "F," saying that a lawmaker can be in favor of both the Second Amendment and gun safety.
"The NRA has come after me in every election I've ever had," the Missouri Democrat told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I have an 'F' from the NRA. having said that, I am a supporter of the Second Amendment. I was raised around guns."
McCaskill added that her father was an avid hunter and she was raised in a rural community, and she's irritated by the organization's claims against her.
She has recently introduced a gun safety bill, and has voted in the past to ban the AR-15 rifle, but said that what "irritates me about this debate is somehow being for gun safety equals being against the Second Amendment. No. You can be for the Second Amendment and be for gun safety. And most gun owners are in that spot, and that's where I am."
There is a long list of actions that could be taken to keep the nation's school children safe, while not infringing on Americans' constitutional rights, she continued.
The bipartisan bill McCaskill introduced calls for the minimum age to purchase an AR-15 to be raised to 21, and she agrees with President Donald Trump that the courts can intervene if a family member believes they have a person who exhibits dangerous behavior.
"If a woman is in a situation where she needs protection from physical abuse, she can go to court for a brief period of time without any input from the person who she accuses of abusing her, she can keep that person away from her," said McCaskill, "so I think we can do the same thing with guns that would allow due process and hopefully provide the protection that we also desperately need for our kids in schools."
The senator also on Thursday called for a continued fight on healthcare reform, complaining that so far, Republicans have "done nothing except sabotage the only system that we currently have."
"They've unleashed insurance companies to do crazy things," she said. "We've got an insurance company in Missouri that is saying they won't tell you if they're going to pay for an emergency room until after you've been [there]. People are trying to self-diagnose whether or not they go to the emergency room. This is crazy."
Democrats must "hunker down," she said, and realize Republicans have been allowed to "sabotage and undermine the only system we have for people to get affordable insurance, through subsidies on the markets."
The resources that were put in the Affordable Care Act for prevention have also been cut, she said.
"We've got all the incentives misaligned," said McCaskill. "We should be paying doctors who are doing a good job of keeping people from getting sick rather than paying them for how many times they treat someone. That's why our costs are so high. There's so many of us who want to get to work and do this. For the life of me, I cannot understand. We have bipartisan bills ready to go. What they do to make it better. I do not understand why the Republicans think this is a winner for them politically."
McCaskill also commented about President Donald Trump's call for tariffs on steel and aluminum, telling the program that there is a lot of concern about what that will do the agriculture industry.
"Here's the nutty thing about what he has done," she said. "If this is about China, do a trade policy that targets China. China does three percent of steel. You know who is in the top four besides Canada and Mexico, our two biggest exports in Missouri for corn and beans, is South Korea."