Fox News "The Story" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Debbie Dingell

Interview

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MACCALLUM: So, tonight, the NRA wants to block a new version of the Violence Against Women Act from becoming law. An issue is the, quote, boyfriend loophole, which would block people convicted of abusing or stalking a partner from owning guns. We're going to hear it in a moment from the NRA's Dana Loesch, but we begin with one of the authors of that provision, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan. Congresswoman Dingell, good to see you tonight. Why is it so important that this boyfriend loophole be included?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL, D-MICH.: You know, to me, it's very simple. It's not a poison pill as the NRA is going to say. The fact of the matter is, it's closing a loophole. If there is a gun involved in a domestic violence situation, there is a five times more likely or 500 percent more likely chance that somebody will be killed. And it's not -- we are not taking away someone's due process. They have already been convicted. We are closing a loophole. And if you can save a life, shouldn't you?

MACCALLUM: I would say, absolutely, but the issue that as you say, they will bring up is that it's too broad. That it's overly broad and that someone could say something unkind about someone on Facebook, and their fear is that the next thing they know, they're being told that their guns are going to be taken away. Is that not true in your mind?

DINGELL: No, it's not true. First of all, you and I get a ton of Facebook comments every day. Mine may be worse than some of yours.

MACCALLUM: I don't know.

DINGELL: But, I don't know, they're pretty bad but they're not convicted. They are not -- they are convicted of stalking somebody, of stalking you or I. You have to have been convicted if you're going to be -- and there's a background check, whether it allows us the FBI to do a background check. And if you're a threat to someone, if you've been stalking someone, then that is when they would take the gun away. I mean, the statistics are they about what the threat is, of someone who has been stalked in the last year, the chance is 76 percent chance of your -- if you are killed that you were stalked in the last year.

So, I'm just trying to use common sense here, that if you can save a life, we should do it. And I believe in it that situation. I know what it's like to live in a home of someone who shouldn't have had a gun. And I lived -- I'm not trying to take people's guns away. I lived with an NRA board member, was in love with him for 40 years. That people that should have guns and people that shouldn't have guns.

MACCALLUM: I know this is very personal for you. And you talked about hiding from your -- from your own father, right?

DINGELL: That is correct. More than once, there were guns in my house. The night I remember the most was when I kept my parents from killing each other. My father pointed -- tried to kill all of us. I got my brothers and sisters out of there, and then, you know, people said that someone should get a gun. Well, my mother went out and bought a gun, and I remember what it was like to live in that household, and that constant fear. What would trigger it? This is just trying to use common sense. No child should have to live in that, but a woman who has been stalked by a dating partner who has turned violent, who has been convicted shouldn't have to live in fear that that person may kill them.

MACCALLUM: All right. Tell me about your confidence level with this -- with this closing this loophole, legislatively.

DINGELL: Well, I think it will pass the House tomorrow. I've talked to many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, and I'm going to keep fighting for it. I don't -- I don't view the NRA as an enemy as many people do, and I've tried to be very careful in this. I wish they didn't call this a poison pill. But why can't we just do some common sense things that will save lives yet protect the second amendment?

MACCALLUM: Congressman Debbie Dingell, thank you very much. Good to have you here tonight.

DINGELL: Thank you.

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