Carolyn McCarthy (née Cook; January 5, 1944 – June 26, 2025) was an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing New York's 4th congressional district from 1997 to 2015. A native of the suburban Long Island community of Mineola, New York, she worked as a nurse and was a registered Republican. However, she was motivated to enter politics after her husband was killed and her son was wounded in the 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting. She became an advocate for gun control legislation, and in 1996, she was elected to the House as a Democrat, defeating a Republican incumbent. She served a total of nine terms.
In 2009, there were two sexual harassment complaints brought against her office. It was later revealed that $8,000 was paid from taxpayer funds to settle the claims.
On January 8, 2014, she announced that she would not run for re-election that November, citing health; she retired in January 2015 and was succeeded by fellow Democrat Kathleen Rice.
McCarthy was born Carolyn Cook in Brooklyn, New York, on January 5, 1944, and was raised in Mineola, New York, on Long Island. Her father was a boilermaker and her mother worked at Woolworth. In her youth, she was an athlete and wanted to become a physical education teacher but found reading challenging and later was diagnosed with dyslexia. She then studied at the Glen Cove Nursing School. After caring for a boyfriend who was injured in a car accident and being moved by the care given to him by nursing staff, Cook decided to work as a Licensed Practical Nurse. In 1967, she married Dennis McCarthy; they had a son, Kevin, and lived in Mineola.
By 1993, both McCarthy's husband and son worked for Prudential Securities in Manhattan, and commuted on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR). On December 7 of that year, Dennis McCarthy was killed and Kevin was severely injured on an LIRR train at the Merillon Avenue station in the village of Garden City, when 35-year-old Colin Ferguson opened fire on passengers. Ferguson killed six and wounded 19 others. Carolyn McCarthy responded to the crime by launching a campaign for more stringent gun control that eventually propelled her to Congress in 1996 on the Democratic ticket. She defeated freshman Republican Dan Frisa by a large margin. In the biographical 1998 television movie The Long Island Incident, which portrayed these events, she was played by actress Laurie Metcalf.
During her time in Congress, McCarthy was described as "the doyenne of anti-gun advocates in the House" and "the fiercest gun-control advocate in Congress". She made attempts to broaden her policy portfolio, but was never able to entirely shed the label of being a one-issue congresswoman. She acknowledged this, saying in 2009 that although she is also known for her education and district work, she is still the "gun lady".
McCarthy was a registered Republican before her first run for Congress, although she ran for office as a Democrat and "evolved" over the years into a reliable Democratic vote. She voted with her party 98.1 percent of the time during the 111th Congress.
Committee on Education and the Workforce
Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education (Ranking Member)
Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training
Committee on Financial Services
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance
Co-chair, Congressional Hearing Health Caucus
International Conservation Caucus
McCarthy's husband Dennis was murdered in the 1993 Long Island Rail Road shooting, which first prompted her to run for Congress.
McCarthy was one of the nation's most vocal gun control advocates. In 1997, she sponsored a bill requiring trigger locks on guns. After the 1997 Empire State Building shooting, she introduced legislation to ban the sale of guns to tourists visiting the United States; afterwards, she received "threats serious enough to require police protection during most public appearances". Later that year, McCarthy unsuccessfully opposed a Treasury bill provision that allowed the importation of weapons that had been modified in order to be compliant with the federal assault weapons ban. In the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre, McCarthy proposed a bill that would require firearms to be child-resistant, would make it more difficult for young adults to purchase guns, and would regulate gun shows.
After the Federal Assault Weapons Ban expired in September 2004, McCarthy introduced the Assault Weapons Ban and Law Enforcement Protection Act of 2007 to reauthorize it in February 2007.