Actor Dean Cain deploys Thomas Jefferson reference when responding to gun-control advocate Gov. Gavin Newsom

California Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared to call for gun control in response to news of a mass shooting in Texas on Saturday that left eight victims dead — but actor Dean Cain pushed back against the leftist governor's comments.

"This is freedom?? To be shot at a mall? Shot at school? Shot at church? Shot at the movies? We have become a nation that is more focused on the right to kill than the right to live. This is not what the American people want. Do your d*** job, Congress," Newsom tweeted.

Dean Cain responded by writing, "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery."

Cain pointed out to critics that the sentence is a Thomas Jefferson quote.

According to Monticello.org, the words are an English translation of the Latin that Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter to James Madison.

"'I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery' is a translation of a Latin phrase that Thomas Jefferson used: 'Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem.' It has also been translated as, 'I prefer the tumult of liberty to the quiet of servitude,'" the site explains.

Cain also pushed back when Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut claimed in a tweet that people do not need an AR-15 to hunt or defend their family.

"You don’t need an AR-15 to hunt or protect your family. You need an AR-15 if you want to kill as many people as possible in as short an amount of time as possible. It's the mass shooter’s best friend. They would be the people most affected by its ban," Murphy tweeted.

"You clearly don't know what you’re talking about," Cain responded.

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