CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Rep. Lucy McBath

Interview

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BALDWIN: Today, the governor of Virginia says that he will be seeking -- quote -- "votes and laws, not just thoughts and prayers," as he announced he's calling a special legislative session in the wake of Friday's mass shooting in Virginia Beach.

A city employee murdered 12 people at the Municipal Center. And it's not still clear why. The rampage is the third in the nation that we have witnessed in the last five weeks alone. And now a new federal law hopes to make an impact on American gun violence.

In the last hour, Georgia Congresswoman Lucy McBath announced her new bill called the Federal Extreme Risk Protection Order Act. This bill mimics a Senate bill introduced last year that would allow law enforcement to remove guns from individuals deemed an extreme risk to themselves or others.

Congresswoman McBath became a gun control activist after her son Jordan Davis was killed in 2012 by a shooter who complained about loud music.

And Congresswoman Lucy McBath of Georgia is with me now.

Congresswoman, welcome back.

REP. LUCY MCBATH (D-GA): Thank you, Brooke. It's always so good to be with you.

BALDWIN: So, you tell me, how would this work? Let's say -- let's use an example. Let's say there's an individual who is showing signs of extreme violence, and perhaps a family member or a co-worker is concerned.

If the bill becomes law, what could that person do?

MCBATH: Well, basically, it empowers the family members, along with law enforcement and also the judge, to determine, ascertain whether or not this individual, the loved one, poses an extreme risk to the themselves or to the community. Most definitely, if a person is suicidal, this also gives the family

and the law enforcement and the judge the ability to determine whether or not this person is extremely that -- I mean, that much of a risk.

So what it does is, it puts in checks and balances...

BALDWIN: Sure.

MCBATH: ... allowing families to be able to really advocate for their loved ones.

BALDWIN: Sure.

We know that, over on the Senate side, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal are saying first it would give law enforcement 14 days to remove the guns. So, in your bill, what's the time frame, because I know, in some of these cases, they need to be removed immediately?

MCBATH: Well, it's basically the same language, Brooke, that...

BALDWIN: Fourteen days?

MCBATH: Fourteen days.

It's basically the same language. But there again, I also want it known too that we want to make sure that we're looking at the behavioral risks that are assessed as well in my bill, making sure that we're looking at the behavioral risks, such as people that might be domestic abusers, or people that might be suicidal.

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I mean, those kinds of risks need to be determined as well. I think this is a far more organic way to making sure that those individuals that are exhibiting these kinds of dangerous or risky behaviors, that we're determining for them whether or not they should have access to guns.

BALDWIN: Now, I know, for example, in California, the first state to have a law similar to this, the red flag law, for example, that the firearms can then be removed for up to a year.

With your proposal, how long could someone's guns be taken away? And how could he or she fight to get them back?

MCBATH: Well, basically, that would be determined by the judge and this group of individuals ascertaining or making those decisions.

And so it would be -- it would vary basically from case to case.

BALDWIN: Vary from case to case, meaning could be gone for weeks, months, a year? Would there be a cap at a year?

MCBATH: Exactly. I guess I would advocate a cap at a year.

BALDWIN: OK.

I want to move on. Just the White House has directed former White House Communications Director Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson, a former deputy White House counsel, not to turn over documents to the House Judiciary Committee, of which you are a member.

How will your committee respond to that, another example of stonewalling from this White House?

MCBATH: Well, of course, we have been very dissatisfied with the lack of information that's being disbursed to us.

But, of course, our job in congressional oversight is to get as much information as we possibly can -- we possibly can. We will continue the process. This is a process, getting the redacted information, getting as much of the resource information from other investigators that we're also tasked with getting the information.

So we will continue the process. There's always a process to get the end result that is desired. We want to make sure that we -- nothing falls through the cracks. We want to make sure that there are no loopholes, because the American people deserve to have access to all of the information. And so that's what we're tasked to do.

And then we will continue to do that.

BALDWIN: Speaking of things that are a process, Congressman McBath, impeachment, I have to ask you, because we now -- by CNN's count, there are 59 House Democrats now in favor of impeachment. You are not one of them.

I know Representative Ruben Gallego said that if Robert Mueller doesn't testify, for example, then that would be the breaking point for him and others to call for impeachment.

Would that be the breaking point for you?

MCBATH: Well, I can't honestly tell you what my breaking point will be.

But, once again, I want to make sure that we have done everything that we possibly can to get access to the information. And, at the end of the day, as I said before, let the chips fall where they may.

But I just want to make sure that there are no loopholes, there are no gotchas. I want to make sure that we use all of the tools and resources that we have been given for congressional oversight to really get to the truth.

And that means that subpoenas that have already been submitted, bringing forth those individuals that we need to have to testify. That still has not happened yet. So let's follow the process. Let's make sure that we're bringing people...

BALDWIN: But the White House keeps fighting it. The White House keeps fighting it.

MCBATH: I know the White House keeps fighting it, but we -- our responsibility and accountability is still to keep trying to get the information at all costs.

BALDWIN: OK, Congresswoman Lucy McBath, good to see you. Thank you very much.

MCBATH: Thank you.

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