AOC says Dan Crenshaw's friends 'have likely abused their spouse,' questions why he would lend guns to them

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) expressed opposition to a universal background check proposal that would require background checks even for private gun transfers between friends, leading to a strange accusation from fellow Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)

Crenshaw commented on a news story about a woman who defended herself from being robbed by shooting one of the attackers.

"Situations like this story are why we protect the 2nd Amendment," Crenshaw tweeted. "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."

Situations like this story are why we protect the 2nd Amendment.

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. https://t.co/x60mdd1WW1

— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) September 4, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez took offense to the idea that Crenshaw would lend guns to his friends and made some extremely negative assumptions about their character.

"You are a member of Congress. Why are you 'lending' guns to people unsupervised who can't pass a basic background check?" Ocasio-Cortez replied on Twitter. "The people you're giving a gun to have likely abused their spouse or have a violent criminal record, & you may not know it. Why on earth would you do that?" 

We don't know what friends Crenshaw is referring to, or what dark, violent backgrounds they might have. But that didn't stop Ocasio-Cortez from stating as fact that the congressman's friends are "likely" violent domestic abusers.

In reality, Crenshaw was not expressing frustration with an inability to freely give guns to violent criminals, but rather criticizing a bill, HB 8, that would require even private gun transfers to be facilitated by licensed gun dealers who must conduct a federal background check.

And, as Stephen Gutowski of The Washington Free Beacon noted in reply to Ocasio-Cortez, it is already illegal to knowingly transfer a gun to someone who is prohibited from owning one.

Crenshaw dismissed the idea that he was trying to irresponsibly loan a gun to someone who should not have one.