Long Island Lolita Aims To Do Good

Amy Fisher, who set off a frenzy of tabloid headlines a decade ago when she shot her lover's wife, celebrated the end of her parole by announcing her intention to work for causes aimed at keeping handguns away from minors.

"I committed a terrible crime when I was only 16 years old," Fisher writes in the Long Island Press, a free weekly where she has worked as a columnist since last summer. "Today I am 28, a mother and almost a stranger to that teenage girl who became known around the world as the 'Long Island Lolita.'"

Fisher was released from prison in 1999 after serving seven years for shooting Mary Jo Buttafuoco in the head during a confrontation outside Buttafuoco's home. Fisher was having an affair with Buttafuoco's auto mechanic husband at the time.

The Buttafuocos have since moved to California.

Fisher referred to herself as one "of a select group of people who know firsthand the pain that is caused when minors get hold of guns."

Although she was not specific, Fisher said because of that, "I am looking forward to devoting my time and energy to as many organizations as I can that are trying to keep guns out of the hands of minors."

Now the mother of a 2-year-old boy, Fisher says she has worked to turn her life around.

"I am in a committed relationship. I have held responsible jobs, and have done my jobs well. I returned to school and received my college degree. I am now a newspaper columnist, and I am thoroughly fulfilled by my work," she writes. "I am the person I always should have been, except for a brief but total, unfathomable lapse of judgment in my youth."