Rep. Carolyn McCarthy to retire from Congress

NEW YORK (WABC) -- She ran for Congress on a mission, still grieving from the death of her husband, one of the victims in the LIRR gun massacre of 1993.

Nine terms later, Carolyn McCarthy is leaving Washington.

It would be great to say she steps down from Congress fulfilled and satisfied by her experience, but the truth is that she isn't.

It's a remarkable story that could be a Frank Capra film: "Mrs. McCarthy goes to Washington." She was elected in 1996 as a gun control activist. Yes, she declared victory over the NRA that night, but it didn't last long.

"I did not see myself being a politician," said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, (D) Long Island.

The year was 1996, and Carolyn McCarthy was going to Washington; she was a nurse, mother, and suburban housewife.

She was elected to Congress three years after a deranged gunman killed six people on a Long Island Rail Road commuter train. Her husband, Dennis was one of them. Her son, Kevin, was among the 19 wounded, and later urged her to run for office.

"He said, if dad were here he'd tell you to go for it," Rep. McCarthy said.

In Washington, she became the face of gun control in the House of Representatives.

Yet, she had only modest success in strengthening background checks on criminals and the mentally-ill.

"They're petrified of the NRA," Rep. McCarthy said.

And with every mass shooting, Columbine, Virginia Tech, her colleague, Gabriel Giffords, the teachers and children in Newtown, Ms. McCarthy asks herself, "What if?"

"Newtown, Gabby Giffords, it really started wearing away at me," McCarthy said, "It tore up my heart, but somebody had to speak up about it."

She says the decisions she faced on Capitol Hill were unexpectedly monumental.

Ms. McCarthy voted against impeaching President Bill Clinton and in-favor of going to war in Iraq. To this day, that is one of her greatest regrets.

"You're at the White House and you have President Bush and Condoleezza Rice who was sitting on my left and Colin Powell on my right and I said to them, 'This isn't going to be another Vietman is it?' And they said, 'No,' and we didn't need to go to war. You hope that you're making the right decision on a vote and if you don't, you have to live with that," Rep. McCarthy said.

Among her proudest achievements was her work in education. And helping fund programs for the schoolchildren in her district.

Ms. McCarthy is retiring from Congress at age 70, after what she describes as a successful struggle with lung cancer.

After nine terms in Congress, she insists she never became a politician.

"My whole life is being a nurse, taking care of people, and that's what I had the opportunity to do," Rep. McCarthy said.