Reps. Ocasio-Cortez, Crenshaw clash on gun control: 'This is America outside NYC'

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Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, clashed in personal terms Wednesday over calls for universal background checks and other gun control measures in the wake of the mass shooting in Texas that left seven dead and at least 25 injured.

Ocasio-Cortez went after Crenshaw for a tweet about a Houston-area woman who used a handgun to defend herself when five men tried to rob her.

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

CELEBRITIES CALL FOR GUN CONTROL AFTER TEXAS SHOOTING: 'WE HAVE A CRISIS HERE'

He added: “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.”

Ocasio-Cortez quickly replied, asking why he is “lending” people his guns and accusing the Texas lawmaker of giving firearms to people who have “likely abused their spouse or have a violent criminal record.”

Crenshaw did not take kindly to Ocasio-Cortez’s words – responding by questioning why she thinks his friends are domestic abusers and criminals, and saying that people lend one another guns for self-defense and hunting.

Crenshaw then took a shot at Ocasio-Cortez’s hometown, saying, “This is America outside NYC.”

But Ocasio-Cortez didn’t back down. To those defending Crenshaw, she tweeted: "This idea of 'I know the guy, there’s no way he beats his wife' as the way we keep guns out of the hands of abusers is ridiculous. Any person who has been abused, assaulted, etc knows that abusers often present as 'upstanding.'"

She added, "Domestic abusers can be master manipulators. Plus, domestic abuse is a HUGE indicator for gun violence. That’s why 'vouching for friend' isn’t a substitute for a background check."

She also said that "if a background check would be a problem, then you shouldn’t ‘lend’ a gun,” while arguing that her state is one of the safest regarding gun violence. "Try to keep up," she tweeted.

Crenshaw is now the second Texas lawmaker to get into a high-profile Twitter battle since the Odessa shooting.

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On Sunday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, took actress Alyssa Milano to task over her faith-based question about where in the Bible does it say that a person has the right to own a firearm.

Cruz responded, telling the anti-gun activist, it was an "excellent" question, "worth considering [without] the snark of Twitter," before citing a few examples from the Bible.

"It is of course not the right to a modern-day firearm that is God-give [sic] but rather the right to Life & the right to Liberty. Essential to that right to life is the right to DEFEND your life & your family," the Texas conservative began.

"The right to self-defense is recognized repeatedly in the Bible," Cruz wrote, for example, "Exodus 22:2: 'If a thief is caught breaking in at night & is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed.' (Note, though, verse 3 says it IS murder if during daylight (ie, not self-defense)."

He also clashed with Chicago's mayor over the gun violence debate.

Fox News Caleb Parke contributed to this report.