Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders square off on Sunday talk shows

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders appeared separately on several of the same political talk shows on Sunday. (Photo collage: CNN/“State of the Union”)

Hours before the first Democratic presidential debate of 2016, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders appeared on several political talk shows offering a preview of Sunday’s showdown — with the former secretary of state accusing the Vermont senator of flip-flopping on the issue of gun control.

“Senator Sanders has, for years, voted many times on behalf of the NRA gun lobby position,” Clinton said on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.” “And one of the most egregious of those votes was the vote to give immunity from all liability to gun makers and sellers.”

Sanders has since indicated he would support a bill currently pending in the House and Senate to repeal that immunity when it comes to being held liable for gun deaths.

“I’m very pleased that he flip-flopped,” Clinton said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Now I hope he will flip-flop on what we call the Charleston loophole, and join legislation to close that, because it’s been a key argument of my campaign that we Democrats, in fact, Americans, need to stand up to the gun lobby.”

In a separate interview with “This Week,” Sanders said he wants an amendment to the bill that protects small gun shops from liability in legal sales of firearms.

“My view has always been, and what is most important, is that we have a strong instant background check,” Sanders said. “I have supported that from day one, and I want to see that expanded and … look, at the end of the day, what almost every American understands is we have got to keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have those guns. That has been my position from as far back as I can remember.”

On the issue of healthcare, the Clinton campaign has warned that Sanders’ yet-to-be-released single-payer system will effectively tear down the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.

Last week while campaigning for her mother, Chelsea Clinton said Sanders’ plan would “dismantle” the U.S. health care system.

“Nonsense,” Sanders said Sunday. “What everybody understands is that what a Medicare-for-all program is is guaranteeing healthcare to all people. We still have 29 million Americans today who have no health insurance. We are the only major country on earth that doesn’t guarantee healthcare to all people, and yet we spend far, far more per capita on healthcare than do the people in other countries.”

“Chelsea Clinton is a very smart and capable young woman,” Sanders said on CNN. “I’m sure she loves her mother and she’s trying to do everything she can to make sure her mom wins; that’s pretty natural. I have four kids, seven grandchildren; they’re rooting for me. But I was a little disappointed that what Chelsea said was simply not accurate.”

Hillary Clinton denied using her daughter to attack her chief rival.

“I didn’t use her,” Clinton said on CNN. “She answered a question.”

According to a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal national poll released Sunday, Clinton leads Sanders 59 percent to 34 percent among likely Democratic primary voters. But recent surveys conducted in early-voting states show Clinton and Sanders neck and neck in Iowa and Sanders with a double-digit lead in New Hampshire.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sanders said Clinton’s latest attacks against him smack of desperation.

“Secretary Clinton and her campaign understands that, you know, they’re losing ground,” Sanders said. “We started this campaign off at 3 percent in the polls, and now we’re closing in in Iowa. But we’re doing really well in New Hampshire. So I think in the next two weeks, you’re going to see a lot of nonsense being thrown around.”

Meanwhile, Clinton laughed off an ad released by American Crossroads, the Republican super-PAC led by GOP strategist Karl Rove, highlighting her ties to Wall Street — a line of attack Sanders has frequently used against her.

“I think it shows how desperate the Republicans are to prevent me from becoming the nominee,” Clinton said on ABC. “I find that, in a perverse way, an incredibly flattering comment on their anxiety, because they know that not only will I stand up for what the country needs, I will take it to the Republicans. I have a track record which shows I know how to stand up to them and I will win.“

On CNN, Clinton was asked to comment on a different kind of new release: “13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi,” the Michael Bay-directed film that opened in theaters over the weekend.

"Are you planning to see it at all?” host Jake Tapper asked Clinton.

“I’m just too busy campaigning,” she replied. “I am still very focused on making sure we do everything we can, as I did when I was secretary of state, as I testified to over 11 hours, to make sure that nothing like that happens again, insofar as we are able to prevent it.”