Pro-gun safety Brady group endorses Joe Biden for president

The endorsement -- only the second the group has issued in a presidential primary -- provides Biden with a key marker to contrast himself with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on the issue of gun safety, something he's placed an increased focus on as the pair competes for the Democratic presidential nomination.

"At a time when our politics are polarized and people are looking for answers, Joe Biden can break through the division and deliver real change. He has proven that he understands that gun violence affects every community and person," Brady President Kris Brown said in a statement.

"There is no other candidate in this race with his record and his commitment to ending gun violence."

Biden's gun control plan, which he released in October, aims to tackle urban gun violence with an eight-year, $900 million program that would go toward efforts to combat shootings in 40 cities with the highest rates of gun violence.

The plan would force owners of assault-style rifles to either sell their firearms through a voluntary buyback program or register them with the federal government under the same law that was first used to strictly control sales of machine guns in the wake of the gangland shootings of the 1920s and '30s.

Biden said in a statement through the Brady Campaign that he was honored "to have the support of their organization as we redouble our work to end the gun violence epidemic that ravages too many communities across the country."

"I do not accept a world where we cannot stand up and say 'no more' to the voices that offer empty words in the aftermath of tragedy, then oppose change and fuel this cycle of carnage," Biden said. "Together, we can defeat the NRA and end this epidemic."