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The Independent
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Gun control crusader and former US Rep. Carolyn McCarthy dead at 81
Former U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, who successfully ran for Congress in 1996 as a crusader for gun control after a mass shooting on a New York commuter train left her husband dead and her son severely wounded, has died. She was 81. News of her death was shared Thursday by several elected officials on her native Long Island and by Jay Jacobs, chair of the New York State Democratic Committee. Details about her death were not immediately available. McCarthy went from political novice to one of the nation's leading advocates for gun control legislation in the aftermath of the 1993 Long Island Rail Road massacre. However, the suburban New York Democrat found limited success against the National Rifle Association and other Second Amendment advocates. McCarthy announced in June 2013 that she was undergoing treatment for lung cancer. She announced her retirement in January 2014. Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi said the nation has 'lost a fierce champion.' 'Carolyn channeled her grief and loss into advocacy for change, becoming one of the most dedicated gun violence prevention advocates,' Suozzi said on X. She became a go-to guest on national TV news shows after each ensuing gun massacre, whether it was at Columbine High School or Sandy Hook Elementary School. Known as the 'gun lady' on Capitol Hill, McCarthy said she couldn't stop crying after learning that her former colleague, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, had been seriously wounded in a January 2011 shooting in Arizona. 'It's like a cancer in our society,' she said of gun violence. 'And if we keep doing nothing to stop it, it's only going to spread.' During one particularly rancorous debate over gun show loopholes in 1999, McCarthy was brought to tears at 1 a.m. on the House floor. 'I am Irish and I am not supposed to cry in front of anyone. But I made a promise a long time ago. I made a promise to my son and to my husband. If there was anything that I could do to prevent one family from going through what I have gone through then I have done my job,' she said. 'Let me go home. Let me go home,' she pleaded. McCarthy was born in Brooklyn and grew up on Long Island. She became a nurse and later married Dennis McCarthy after meeting on a Long Island beach. They had one son, Kevin, during a tumultuous marriage in which they divorced but reconciled and remarried. McCarthy was a Republican when, on Dec. 7, 1993, a gunman opened fire on a train car leaving New York City. By the time passengers tackled the shooter, six people were dead and 19 wounded. She jumped into politics after her GOP congressman voted to repeal an assault weapons ban. Her surprise victory inspired a made-for-television movie produced by Barbra Streisand. Since that first victory in 1996, McCarthy was never seriously challenged for reelection in a heavily Republican district just east of New York City.. Some critics described McCarthy as a one-issue lawmaker, a contention she bristled about, pointing to interests in improving health care and education. But she was realistic about her legacy on gun control, once telling an interviewer: 'I've come to peace with the fact that will be in my obituary.'
Associated Press
2 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Gun control crusader and former US Rep. Carolyn McCarthy dead at 81
Former U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, who successfully ran for Congress in 1996 as a crusader for gun control after a mass shooting on a New York commuter train left her husband dead and her son severely wounded, has died. She was 81. News of her death was shared Thursday by several elected officials on her native Long Island and by Jay Jacobs, chair of the New York State Democratic Committee. Details about her death were not immediately available. McCarthy went from political novice to one of the nation's leading advocates for gun control legislation in the aftermath of the 1993 Long Island Rail Road massacre. However, the suburban New York Democrat found limited success against the National Rifle Association and other Second Amendment advocates. McCarthy announced in June 2013 that she was undergoing treatment for lung cancer. She announced her retirement in January 2014. Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi said the nation has 'lost a fierce champion.' 'Carolyn channeled her grief and loss into advocacy for change, becoming one of the most dedicated gun violence prevention advocates,' Suozzi said on X. She became a go-to guest on national TV news shows after each ensuing gun massacre, whether it was at Columbine High School or Sandy Hook Elementary School. Known as the 'gun lady' on Capitol Hill, McCarthy said she couldn't stop crying after learning that her former colleague, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, had been seriously wounded in a January 2011 shooting in Arizona. 'It's like a cancer in our society,' she said of gun violence. 'And if we keep doing nothing to stop it, it's only going to spread.' During one particularly rancorous debate over gun show loopholes in 1999, McCarthy was brought to tears at 1 a.m. on the House floor. 'I am Irish and I am not supposed to cry in front of anyone. But I made a promise a long time ago. I made a promise to my son and to my husband. If there was anything that I could do to prevent one family from going through what I have gone through then I have done my job,' she said. 'Let me go home. Let me go home,' she pleaded. McCarthy was born in Brooklyn and grew up on Long Island. She became a nurse and later married Dennis McCarthy after meeting on a Long Island beach. They had one son, Kevin, during a tumultuous marriage in which they divorced but reconciled and remarried. McCarthy was a Republican when, on Dec. 7, 1993, a gunman opened fire on a train car leaving New York City. By the time passengers tackled the shooter, six people were dead and 19 wounded. She jumped into politics after her GOP congressman voted to repeal an assault weapons ban. Her surprise victory inspired a made-for-television movie produced by Barbra Streisand. Since that first victory in 1996, McCarthy was never seriously challenged for reelection in a heavily Republican district just east of New York City.. Some critics described McCarthy as a one-issue lawmaker, a contention she bristled about, pointing to interests in improving health care and education. But she was realistic about her legacy on gun control, once telling an interviewer: 'I've come to peace with the fact that will be in my obituary.'
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
The sleeper Supreme Court decision that could have profound impacts on the Trump administration agenda – and restore faith in the high court
The American public's trust in the Supreme Court has fallen precipitously over the past decade. Many across the political spectrum see the court as too political. This view is only strengthened when Americans see most of the justices of the court dividing along ideological lines on decisions related to some of the most hot-button issues the court handles. Those include reproductive rights, voting rights, corporate power, environmental protection, student loan policy, worker rights and LGBTQ+ rights. But there is one recent decision where the court was unanimous in its ruling, perhaps because its holding should not be controversial: National Rifle Association v. Vullo. In that 2024 case, the court said that it's a clear violation of the First Amendment's free speech provisions for government to force people to speak and act in ways that are aligned with its policies. The second Trump administration has tried to wield executive branch power in ways that appear to punish or suppress speech and opposition to administration policy priorities. Many of those attempts have been legally challenged and will likely make their way to the Supreme Court. The somewhat under-the-radar – yet incredibly important – decision in National Rifle Association v. Vullo is likely to figure prominently in Supreme Court rulings in a slew of those cases in the coming months and years, including those involving law firms, universities and the Public Broadcasting Service. That's because, in my view as a legal scholar, they are all First Amendment cases. Why the NRA sued a New York state official In May 2024, in an opinion written by reliably liberal Sonia Sotomayor, a unanimous court ruled that the efforts of New York state government officials to punish companies doing business with the NRA constituted clear violations of the First Amendment. Following its own precedent from the 1960s, Bantam Books v. Sullivan, the court found that government officials 'cannot attempt to coerce private parties in order to punish or suppress views that the government disfavors.' Many of the current targets of the Trump administration's actions have claimed similar suppression of their First Amendment rights by the government. They have fought back, filing lawsuits that often cite the National Rifle Association v. Vullo decision in their efforts. To date, the most egregious examples of actions that violate the principles announced by the court – the executive orders against law firms – have largely been halted in the lower courts, with those decisions often citing what's now known as the Vullo decision. While these cases may still be working their way through the lower courts, it is likely that the Supreme Court will ultimately consider legal challenges to the Trump administration's efforts in a range of areas. These would include the executive orders against law firms, attempts to cut government grants and research funding from universities, potential moves to strip nonprofits of their tax-exempt status, and regulatory actions punishing media companies for what the White House believes to be unfavorable coverage. The court could also hear disputes over the government terminating contracts with a family of companies that provides satellite and communications support to the U.S. government generally and the military in particular. Despite the variety of organizations and government actions involved in these lawsuits, they all can be seen as struggles over free speech and expression, like Vullo. Whether it is private law firms, multinational corporations, universities or members of the media, all have one thing in common: They have all been targeted by the Trump administration for the same reason – they are engaged in actions or speech that is disfavored by President Donald Trump. Protecting speech, regardless of politics The NRA, an often-controversial gun-rights advocacy organization, was the plaintiff in the Vullo decision. But just because the groups that have been targeted by the Trump administration are across the political divide from the NRA does not mean the outcome in decisions relying on the court's opinion will be different. In fact, these groups can rely on the same arguments advanced by the NRA, and are, I believe, likely to win. Vullo isn't the only decision on which the court can rely when considering challenges to the Trump administration's efforts targeting these groups. In the wake of World War II, Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson took a leave from the court and served as a prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders. Prosecuting them for their atrocities, Jackson saw how the Nuremberg defendants wielded government authority to punish enemies who resisted their rise and later opposed their rule. Once he returned to the court, Jackson wrote the majority opinion in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, where the court found that students who refused to salute the American flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance at school could not be expelled. Jackson's opinion is a forceful rejection of government attempts to control what people say: 'If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.' If some of the cases testing the state's power to force fidelity to the executive branch reach the Supreme Court, the cases could offer the justices the opportunity to, once again, speak with one voice as they did in NRA v. Vullo, to demonstrate it can be evenhanded and will not play politics with the First Amendment.
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NJ Senate advances laws to curb 'ghost' guns, expand gun crimes
The state senate's Law and Public Safety Committee cleared nine bills related to gun safety and regulation at its June 19 meeting at the Statehouse in Trenton. The bills range from upgrading crimes for manufacturing guns to allowing for the court system to have more time considering pretrial release or pretrial detention when a gun crime is involved. Eight of the nine bills were introduced in the upper chamber last year. Five of them have already passed the full Assembly. State Sen. Linda Greenstein, the Democrat who chairs the committe and sponsored one of the bills, said the package 'will keep us safe from emerging threats.' Groups like Moms Demand Action and the National Council of Jewish Women testified in favor of the bills. Not everyone was in support of the legislation, though. Darin Goens, a state director for the National Rifle Association, and Joseph LoPorto of the New Jersey Gun Owner Syndicate, opposed the bills because there are already laws on the books that address gun related issues. They both also noted that New Jersey is in the minority of states when it comes to taking some of these measures, including the severity of the penalties. State Sen. Paul Moriarty, also a Democrat, said 'we're not that interested in what other states are doing.' 'There are a lot of states that seem to no longer want women to have reproductive rights. We've chosen a different path,' he said. 'We will continue to choose the path that we think is right for New Jersey at this time.' Trenton: Phil Murphy, Matt Platkin vow increased security for NJ officials after Minnesota shooting These nine bills would: Increase the penalties for the manufacturing and distributing so-called 'ghost guns' and 3D-printed firearms from second-degree to first-degree crimes, specifically buying parts to make a gun without a serial number, making a gun with a 3D printer, making a covert or undetectable firearm and transporting a manufactured gun without a serial number. Require businesses that sell guns and ammunition to use the merchant category codes established by the International Organization for Standardization for processing credit, debit, or prepaid transactions. Establish criminal penalties for selling or possessing devices designed to convert a weapon into a semiautomatic firearm. Make it a crime to possess digital instructions to use a 3D printer to make a gun, firearm receiver, magazine or firearm component. Make firing a gun within a hundred yards of certain structures like homes or schools a crime of the fourth degree and any other reckless discharge of a firearm a disorderly persons offense. Require the public safety risk assessment used by the Pretrial Services Program to consider a charge, if the act was an unlawful act and not a crime or offense, as risk factors relevant to the risk of failure to appear in court when required and the danger to the community while on pretrial release. Require county prosecutors to provide the state's attorney general with data on crimes involving the use of a gun that did not result in any bodily injury. Permit the court system to take additional time to consider pretrial release or pretrial detention when firearm offense is involved. Require state's attorney general to create a ballistics analysis device pilot program and for the chief law enforcement officer of each participating municipality to submit a report to the state's attorney general within 30 days with a detailed summary of each incident in which the agency used the device and recommends whether the agency should continue to use the device. Katie Sobko covers the New Jersey Statehouse. Email: sobko@ This article originally appeared on NJ laws target ghost guns, expand gun crimes
The Print
17-06-2025
- Business
- The Print
FATF says Pahalgam attack not possible without money support; report on terror funding soon
'Terrorist attacks kill, maim and inspire fear around the world. The FATF notes with grave concern and condemns the brutal terrorist attack in Pahalgam on 22 April 2025. This, and other recent attacks, could not occur without money and the means to move funds between terrorist supporters,' the FATF said in a statement. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), in a rare move, condemned the terror attack and said it will increase its scrutiny on countries to see what steps they are taking to combat terror financing. New Delhi, Jun 16 (PTI) Global watchdog FATF on Monday said the Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 people, would not have been possible without money support, and it will soon release a report on terror financing cases, including state-sponsored terrorism. Sources said FATF rarely issues condemnation of terrorist acts. It is only the third time in last decade that they have issued condemnation of a terrorist attack. It had earlier issued condemnations once in 2015 and then in 2019 in severe cases of terrorist attacks. The FATF statement comes in the backdrop of Indian authorities highlighting Pakistan's persistent support for terrorism and its funnelling of multilateral funds for arms procurement. According to sources, such action by Pakistan warrants that the country be put in the 'grey list' of the FATF. India has consistently held that Pakistan has given safe haven to designated terrorists and the same was evident when senior military officials were present at the funeral of the terrorists killed in Indian military attacks of May 7. Ahead of the next meeting of the Asia Pacific Group (APG) of FATF on August 25 and the next FATF plenary and working group meeting on October 20, India is preparing a dossier on the omissions and commissions by Pakistan with respect to FATF anti-money laundering and terror financing norms. India will be submitting to the FATF for grey listing of Pakistan. The rare condemnation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) shows that the 'international community has felt the severity of the attack', which killed 26 people in Pahalgam, Kashmir,on April 22, and spotlights that such attacks will not go unpunished, sources said, adding the terror attack was done by Pakistan-trained terrorists, sources said. The FATF, which is a global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog and sets international standards that aim to prevent these illegal activities, also said that it will soon release a 'comprehensive analysis of terrorist financing', compiling cases provided by its global network consisting 200 jurisdictions. 'It will also host a webinar to help public and private sectors understand the risks and stay alert to emerging threats,' it added. Sources said the report on terror financing risks would be released in a month's time. This is the first time the concept of 'state sponsored terrorism' is being acknowledged by FATF as a funding source. 'Only India's National Risk Assessment (NRA) recognises state-sponsored terrorism from Pakistan as a key TF risk. The inclusion of 'state sponsored terrorism' as a concept in the report demonstrates international recognition of state-sponsored terrorism by Pakistan,' sources added. Pakistan's history with FATF's 'grey list' dates back to February 2008, when it was placed in the monitoring list. In June 2010 it was removed from the list, only to be brought back in February 2012, and then removed again in February 2015. It was brought back in the list again for the third time in June 2018, and was later removed in October 2022 with FATF asking Pakistan to continue to work with APG to further improve its anti-moneylaundering/combating the financing of terror (AML/CFT) system. Currently, there are 24 countries in FATF 'grey list'. These countries are under increased monitoring and they have to address strategic deficiencies to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. The FATF statement further said that as terrorism continues to threaten societies and citizens around the world, the global watchdog is supporting over 200 jurisdictions within its global network to build and enhance their counter-financing of terrorism (CFT) measures including through the strategic use of financial intelligence — making this one of the most powerful instruments for dismantling terrorist financing networks. 'In addition to setting out the framework for combating terrorist financing, the FATF has enhanced its focus on the effectiveness of measures countries have put in place. That is how, through our mutual evaluations, we have identified gaps that need to be addressed,' it added. The FATF has been working for 10 years to help countries stay ahead of terrorist financing risk — for example relating to abuse of social media, crowd funding, and virtual assets. FATF President Elisa de Anda Madrazo at the recent 'No Money for Terror Conference' in Munich, had said: 'No single company, authority, or country can combat this challenge alone. We must be unified against the scourge of global terrorism. Because terrorists need to succeed only once to achieve their goal, while we have to succeed every time to prevent it.' PTI JD CS HVA This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
