RANDALL PINKSTON: She ran for Congress, intent on curbing access to guns, but hasn't had much success.
REP. CAROLYN MCCARTHY (D-NY) CLIP #1: People say, "Yes, we should have better laws. Yes, we shouldn't have assault weapons." But then it goes away.
MCCARTHY CLIP #2: All they hear from is the NRA.
Pinkston then filled in viewers on last year's Supreme Court ruling striking down Washington, D.C.'s ban on handguns. Pinkston: "And the National Rifle Association's support of the Second Amendment right to bear arms received a major boost last June when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a District of Columbia law which limited access to handguns."
After a soundbite of NYPD commissioner Ray Kelly complaining that there is little more that law enforcement can do to prevent mass killings, Pinkston passed on Kelly's support for a new assault weapon ban, but also undermined expectations of its effectiveness by adding that "it's not a magic bullet." Pinkston: "Raymond Kelly, who heads the nation's largest police force, thinks a new ban on assault weapons would help, but warns it's not a magic bullet." Kelly: "You can get a rifle that doesn't have all the elements of assault weapons and cause an awful lot of havoc."
Below is a complete transcript of the story from the Sunday, April 5, CBS Evening News:
RUSS MITCHELL: The Binghamton shootings are unfortunately just the latest in a string of tragic killings in the last 30 days. Randall Pinkston has more on what has happened and tells us why even veteran law enforcement are feeling powerless.
RANDALL PINKSTON: The past month may go down as America's deadliest in gun violence in recent history – seven men, seven shootings, 48 victims, 53 deaths, including five of the gunmen. March 10, Samson, Alabama: Police say Michael McClendon, reportedly angry at co-workers, killed 10 people, then himself. Twelve days later, in Oakland, California, job stress reportedly caused 26-year-old Lovelle Mixon to kill four police officers before he was gunned down. The following week, bicoastal violence. Devan Colifat shot his two children and three other people in Santa Clara, California. The same day, in Carthage, North Carolina, Robert Stewart, reportedly angry at his estranged wife, gunned down eight in a nursing home. Most recently, in just two days, three gunmen killed 21 in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington state, where police say James Harrison, angry that his wife left him, killed their five children, then himself. Watching the national cascade of violence, New York Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy had a sense of deja vous
REP. CAROLYN MCCARTHY (D-NY): It brings you back to the place where my son and my husband and the other victims were actually on that train.
PINKSTON: Fifteen years ago, McCarthy's husband was killed, her son paralyzed, by a crazed gunman on a Long Island railroad. She ran for Congress, intent on curbing access to guns, but hasn't had much success.
MCCARTHY CLIP #2: All they hear from is the NRA.
PINKSTON: And the National Rifle Association's support of the Second Amendment right to bear arms received a major boost last June when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a District of Columbia law which limited access to handguns. What can law enforcement do to prevent a mass killing?
RAY KELLY, NYPD COMMISSIONER: Very little. I think it underscores the unpredictability and the inherent danger of police work.
PINKSTON: Raymond Kelly, who heads the nation's largest police force, thinks a new ban on assault weapons would help, but warns it's not a magic bullet.
KELLY: You can get a rifle that doesn't have all the elements of assault weapons and cause an awful lot of havoc.
PINKSTON: While America absorbs the latest shootings, across the country, another trend: Law enforcement agencies report a significant increase in applications for gun permits. Randall Pinkston, CBS News, New York.
