Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you, governor. Thank you so much. Hard to believe that it has only been a year when I heard you say that as governor, signing as governor. The team was for many years, almost seven years, we were missing a quarterback, we were missing someone that was going to orchestrate the entire offensive team to go after these gun distributors, manufacturers, users, traffickers. And having Director Dettelbach back with us, we are seeing that coordination. And I don't think that we should dismiss the fact that we are in alignment on the city, state and federal level.
Mayor Adams: Because that is what's going to be needed to go after an extremely aggressive over proliferation of guns in our country. And what we're doing here in New York with that coordination — I think the director's right — it's something that we could duplicate across the entire country. Gun manufacturers, gun distributors, gun users are not stopping at our borders. They do not stop based on the boundaries of the state borders. They are bringing harm across our entire country. And this is a national crisis that we are facing and crisis calls for coordination, and that is what we are doing.
Mayor Adams: And I'm proud to be a part of this. I sat here earlier in the administration and I witnessed what the New York City Police Department is doing with all of its partners, everyone from probation, the district attorney's office, state police. Everyone that comes in contact with illegal gun users or distributors are at the table sitting down and saying how we could do it together to solve this problem. Now, the missing piece has been the leader of the ATF and we have that leader. And I think that really New Yorkers and Americans are going to be safer because of that.
Mayor Adams: So I thank the governor, I thank the entire team here, this is clearly a dream team. And you're right, director, in my days in policing, there were so many walls between city, state, and federal lawmakers. And those walls have been dismantled with the leadership of the governor and the leadership of the new director. The numbers are impressive when you think about it. New York City Police Department has seized approximately over 4,700 guns off the streets of New York this year. They made over 3,000 gun arrests and both murder shootings, as the governor indicated, are down by 11%.
Mayor Adams: But it appears as though the more we remove a gun off the street, not only are we finding difficulties and stopping those flows of guns to come on the street, but even some of the trigger pullers and shooters have become too comfortable with discharging a weapon and carrying a weapon. And that is why the governor and I are joined at the hip and making sure that we have strong laws to deal with these real crises that we are facing. Gun problems in New York City is a national problem. It's a national problem. If it's in Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit, St. Louis, no matter where you go, in large cities in America, we are dealing with the problems of guns.
Mayor Adams: And if we are honest about it, the victims are predominantly Black, brown, and poor. And that lack of urgency is something that we have to be honest about. And I commend this president. This president has made it clear that he was not going to sit on the sidelines and allow this national problem to continue. And that is where the energy is coming from the ATF and all other men and women of the law enforcement community as we go after and tackle gun violence. I'm happy to be part of this team. I'm happy to have an aggressive, knowledgeable seasoned quarterback of this fight that we are having with the ATF.
Mayor Adams: And I am happy to have a governor that joins me in understanding the urgency that we must dam every river that feeds the sea of gun violence in our city and our state and in our country. And together we are going to those rivers and make sure that our city is in a safe city. Public safety and justice, they are the prerequisite to prosperity. You cannot live in a city or country without them. Thank you, governor. Thank you, director.
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