“Why on earth would you do that?”
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) berated a fellow member of Congress after he admitted he lends guns to friends who have not passed background checks. Earlier in the day Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), a former Navy SEAL, said he opposes universal background checks – despite nearly nine out of 10 Americans supporting them – because if they were required he wouldn’t be able to lend his guns to his friends.
“You are a member of Congress. Why are you ‘lending’ guns to people unsupervised who can’t pass a basic background check?” The New York Democrat known to many as “AOC” asked. “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?”
Crenshaw had said, “With universal background checks, I wouldn’t be able to let my friends borrow my handgun when they travel alone.”
He snapped back at AOC, trying to make her home town a subject of derision.
“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? Wrong. People lend guns to friends, esp if they don’t own a gun, for self-defense and hunting purposes. This is America outside NYC.”
Rep. Crenshaw totally ignored the fact that these people, as he admitted, had not passed background checks.
One well-known conservative writer pointed out earlier that were he to lend a friend a gun and it were used in an illegal act, he too could be prosecuted.
Some on social media responded to Crenshaw’s lack of understanding. A sampling: