Ocasio-Cortez Implies Rep. Dan Crenshaw Lends Guns to Spousal Abusers

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) appeared to use Twitter Wednesday to accuse Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) of lending guns to spousal abusers who have violent criminal records. Her tweet followed the Texas lawmaker’s celebration of a woman who used a handgun to defend herself from suspected robbers.

Crenshaw tweeted the story of a Texas woman, Lachelle Hudgins, who fought off would-be robbers with help from her handgun. According to reports, the suspects tried to grab her purse through her car window, but she reacted quickly, grabbing her weapon, firing, and ultimately wounding one of the suspected robbers.

“It was all I had in my gun. I shot until I couldn’t shoot anymore,” Hudgins said, according to ABC13.

“I saved my life,” she added:

Crenshaw retweeted the story and wrote, “Situations like this story are why we protect the 2nd Amendment.”

He added a “side note,” arguing that universal background checks–which Democrats have consistently pushed for–would prevent him from lending some of his own guns to his friends when they travel alone, much like the woman in the story.

“Side note: With universal background checks, I wouldn’t be able to let my friends borrow my handgun when they travel alone like this. We would make felons out of people just for defending themselves,” he wrote:

Ocasio-Cortez took issue with Crenshaw’s tweet, accusing him of “‘lending’ guns to people unsupervised who can’t pass a basic background check,” adding “The people you’re giving a gun to have likely abused their spouse or have a violent criminal record, & you may not know it,” she said, seemingly referring to Crenshaw’s friends.

“Why on earth would you do that?” she said:

Crenshaw responded to Ocasio-Cortez’s assertions, asking for clarification:

“Just so I’m clear: you think my friends are domestic abusers/criminals? Seriously that’s your argument? That they can’t pass a background check?” he asked.

“Wrong. People lend guns to friends, esp if they don’t own a gun, for self-defense and hunting purposes,” he continued, adding, “This is America outside NYC”:

The exchange continued, with Ocasio-Cortez tweeting back:

“You said w/ universal background checks, you wouldn’t be able to ‘lend’ guns to friends. If a background check would be a problem, then you shouldn’t ‘lend” a gun,’” she tweeted in part.

She also continued to suggest that Crenshaw’s friends may be violent abusers.

“You could know an abuser & have no clue,” she wrote. “I’ve had friends come out to me as victims. It’s not obvious. Unsafe relationships are COMMON”: