Rick Perry: Background checks is a bad 'attitude towards manufacturers of weapons'

Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) on Sunday advised states and the federal government not to try to close loopholes that allow guns to be purchased without background checks because gun companies did not appreciate that "attitude."

During a panel discussion on CNN, Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy (D) noted that his state had enacted new background check laws after the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School because the federal government refused to do it.

"Universal background checks would make everyone safer in their states and in mine," he explained. "It is a starting point. We should not be allowing folks who have mental health challenges currently to acquire guns. We should not have a system that allows people who have extensive criminal records to get around the background checks."

"I don't think any of you all would disagree with that," CNN host Candy Crowley wondered, turning to Perry.

"The Second Amendment pretty much is a good amendment," Perry opined. "And we support it in the state of Texas."

"The restrictions you've seen states like Connecticut -- and when you think about the Northeast, that was the Silicon Valley, if you will, of gun manufacturing," he continued. "And you're seeing those manufacturers leave the Northeast because the taxation, the regulation. And just the attitude towards manufacturers of weapons."

Watch the video from CNN's State of the Union, broadcast Feb. 23, 2014.