Former American representative Carolyn McCarthy, who run successfully for Congress in 1996 as a crusade for weapons control after a mass shooting on a New York near train, left her dead husband and her seriously injured son, died. She was 81 years old.
The news of his death was shared on Thursday by several elected officials on his native island of Long Island and by Jay Jacobs, president of the Democratic Committee of the State of New York. The details about his death were not available immediately.
McCarthy went from a political rookie to one of the leading defenders of the Nation for the arms control legislation after the Long Island Rail Road massacre of 1993. However, the New York Suburban Democrat found a limited success against the National Rifle Association and other defenders of the second amendment.
McCarthy announced in June 2013 that he was receiving treatment for lung cancer. She announced her retirement in January 2014.
“Mom dedicated her life to transforming personal tragedy into a powerful public service mission,” his son, Kevin McCarthy, told Newsday, who survived the shooting. “As a tireless defender, a devout mother, a proud grandmother and brave leader, she changed innumerable lives for better. Her legacy of compassion, strength and purpose will never be forgotten.”
The governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, directed the flags in all state government buildings that will fly in half of the staff in honor of the congresswoman on Friday.
“Representative Carolyn McCarthy was a firm defender of arms control and an even more fierce leader,” said Hochul.
The United States Democratic Representative Tom Suozzi said that the nation has “lost a fierce champion.”
“Carolyn channeled his pain and loss by defense for change, becoming one of the most dedicated armed violence prevention defenders,” Suozzi said in X.
It became a guest in national television news programs after each weapons massacre, either in Columbine High School or Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Known as the “Gun Lady” in Capitol Hill, McCarthy said he could not stop crying after learning that his former colleague, representative Gabrielle Giffords, had been seriously injured in a January 2011 shooting in Arizona.
“It’s like cancer in our society,” he said about armed violence. “And if we continue doing anything to stop it, it will only be extended.”
During a particularly spiteful debate on the lagoons of the arms show in 1999, McCarthy cried at 1 in the morning on the floor of the house.
“I am Irish and you are supposed to cry in front of anyone. But I made a promise a long time ago. I made a promise to my son and my husband. If there was something I could do to prevent a family from going through what I had happened, then I have done my job,” he said.
“Let me go home. Let me go home,” he begged.
McCarthy was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Long Island. He became a nurse and then married Dennis McCarthy after gathering at a Long Island beach. They had a son, Kevin, during a tumultuous marriage in which they divorced but reconciled and married again.
McCarthy was a Republican when, on December 7, 1993, an armed man opened fire in a train car that came out of New York City. When the passengers approached the shooter, six people were dead and 19 wounds.
He got into politics after his republican congressman voted to repeal a prohibition of assault weapons.
His surprise Victoria inspired a film made for television produced by Barbra Streisand. Since that first victory in 1996, McCarthy was never seriously challenged for re -election in a very republican district east of New York City.
Some critics described McCarthy as legislator of a topic, a containment on which he bristled, pointing out interests to improve medical care and education. But she was realistic about her legacy about arms control, once she told an interviewer:
“I have reached peace with the fact that it will be in my obituary.”
