Carolyn McCarthy, Who Turned a Gunman's Massacre Into a Crusade, Dies at 81

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: New York Times

June 26, 2025 Updated 5:18 p.m. ET


Carolyn McCarthy, a former nine-term congresswoman from Long Island who became a champion of gun regulation after her family was shattered by a deranged shooter on a commuter train — transforming herself from a nurse and homemaker into a national symbol of unflinching, if largely frustrated, advocacy — died on Thursday at her home in Fort Myers, Fla. She was 81.

Cecelia J. Prewett, a former communications director for Ms. McCarthy in Washington, confirmed the death but did not give the cause. Ms. McCarthy was found to have lung cancer in 2013.

On the night of Dec. 7, 1993, a Christmas tree lying in her driveway was Ms. McCarthy’s first sign that something had gone wrong. She returned late to her house in Mineola, 20 miles east of Manhattan on Long Island, after attending a Christmas concert with a friend. There, to her puzzlement and slight annoyance, lay the tree. Her husband, Dennis, and their son, Kevin, were supposed to have taken it inside and put it up.

Then she saw one of her brothers. In that era before smartphones, he was the one who broke the news that was hours old but unknown to her: Dennis, 52, her husband of nearly 27 years, was dead. Kevin, 26, had been shot in the head and left to fight for his life.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/nyregion/carolyn-mccarthy-dead.html

---

No paywall (gift)

Too many being lost. R.I.P.

[mpcamb]

1. Great Rep, great example, great spokesperson, great advocate.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Another of my heroes, gone.

[electric_blue68]

3. RIP, Carolyn McCarthy.

As an NYC'r I thought that name sounded familiar. I remember that happening.

[Danmel]

4. I worked on her 1st Congressional campaign

I lived in her district and met her not long after she declared her candidacy. I volunteered and knocked on doors and made 100s of calls. On Election night, I went to her victory party at a local hotel and was interviewed by NJ Burkett from ABC News. We were all just elated. The next day I went to our local fish store to get something for dinner and the guy at the counter said "I saw you on the news last night"
She was a real fighter. We moved about a year later, but I'm glad I got to meet her and play a part in getting her elected that first term. May her memory be a blessing.

[mahina]

5. Letʻs carry her work forward.

I will.