What you should know
- Gun Seizures Have Led to Three Consecutive Years of Shooting and Homicide Declines, Shootings Down 54 Percent, Homicides Down 34 Percent Under Adams Administration
- Adams Administration’s Focus on Interagency Collaboration and Targeted Public Safety Efforts Has Resulted in Six Consecutive Quarters of Crime Reductions, Record Lows for Shooting Incidents and Shooting Victims Through First Half of 2025
NEW YORK – New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch today announced that the NYPD has removed more than 4,000 illegal firearms from New York City streets since the start of 2025 alone. This year’s seizures bring the total number of illegal firearms seized since the start of the Adams administration in January 2022 to over 23,700. This success has helped drive a 54 percent decrease in shootings and a 34 percent reduction in homicides citywide under the Adams administration.
“Shooting incidents and shooting victims are at their lowest levels in recorded history, and that is no accident. It is the result of relentless investigative efforts, enforcement, and the continuous seizure of lethal guns by the brave men and women of the NYPD,” said Mayor Adams. “Every one of the 4,000 guns seized represents a life saved, a family protected, and a community safer. And while we are always working to further protect New Yorkers, our results could not be more clear: We are in our seventh straight quarter of major crime reductions, with year-to-date declines in almost every major crime category, and we’ve also seen drops in hate crimes, retail theft, and crime in on our subways and in public housing. Thank you to Commissioner Tisch and the entire NYPD for reaching this milestone and for ensuring that New York City remains the safest big city in America and the best place to raise a family.”
“Removing 4,000 firearms from our streets so far this year is the direct result of the NYPD’s unwavering commitment to keeping New Yorkers safe,” said NYPD Commissioner Tisch. “We know the dangers our police officers face every time they seize one of these deadly weapons, yet they continue to do this work at a historic pace. Since January, New York City has seen its lowest levels of shooting incidents and shooting victims in recorded history. These achievements come from our strategic plan: following the data, dismantling violent gangs, and deploying resources to the communities most threatened by gun violence. I am grateful to Mayor Adams for providing the tools to get these dangerous firearms out of the hands of criminals.”
“Today’s announcement is a significant step forward in our fight to end the proliferation of illegal firearms that have threatened our residents’ safety and our communities wellbeing,” said Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson. “Removing these weapons from our streets is essential to not only reducing violence but also to restoring trust, rebuilding hope, and reclaiming our streets from the threat of gun violence. I want to thank Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch for their continued support and leadership in handling this urgent gun trafficking crisis.”
“I commend the police for all their efforts in reducing gun violence,” said Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark. “Now more than ever we must concentrate on how these firearms are getting into our boroughs in the first place. I am committed to partnering with the mayor, NYPD, and federal partners to keep this momentum going, to intercept illegal firearms , and reduce casualties in our neighborhoods.”
The NYPD is one of New York City’s first lines of defense against gun violence, and officers continue to save countless lives every day by continuing to take illegal firearms off the streets. The department’s focused enforcement helped make 2024 the fourth-lowest year for shootings in the city’s recorded history. In the first eight months of 2025, New York City saw both the lowest number of shooting incidents and shooting victims ever recorded in an eight-month span, beating the previous recorded low set in 2018. For the first eight months of 2025, shooting incidents decreased by 18.8 percent compared to the same period last year, representing 123 fewer shooting victims.
Beginning on May 5, 2025, the NYPD deployed more than 2,000 officers to 72 summer violence zones in 40 precincts, eight housing police service areas, and 10 transit commands. During the four-plus month deployment, crime in those zones declined 18.3 percent — more than 400 fewer victims, and included decreases in all seven major crimes. Also in the summer violence zones, shooting incidents declined 47.3 percent and shooting victims declined 43.8 percent. Every borough in the city saw crime declines in their respective summer zones, with Staten Island down 70.8 percent, Queens down 36.2 percent, Manhattan down 22.7 percent, Brooklyn down 11.2 percent, and the Bronx down 10.2 percent.
Overall, major crimes also continue to trend downward across the five boroughs. In August 2025, major crime declined 6.7 percent citywide, driven by decreases in most major crime categories, as well as notable reductions in transit crime, housing development crime, hate crimes, and retail theft. From January through August 2025, major crime citywide dropped 4.5 percent compared to the same period last year, resulting in 3,799 fewer victims of major crimes across the five boroughs.
These successes have been supported by the NYPD’s targeted investigations into violent gangs, which have resulted in 55 gang takedowns year-to-date, leading to the arrests of 396 gang members and associates, as well as the seizure of 236 firearms. These efforts are directly contributing to fewer illegal guns on city streets and safer communities across the five boroughs.
Out of the more than 23,700 guns seized since the beginning of the Adams administration, over 1,500 of them have been identified as ghost guns — unserialized, and therefore untraceable, firearms that are assembled through components purchased either as a kit or as separate pieces or manufactured using 3-D printers. These weapons are fully functioning firearms and often end up in the hands of criminals as well as underage purchasers. Incidents involving ghost guns reflect a dangerously escalating trend — one that the NYPD is leading the charge against. The NYPD recovered 17 ghost guns in 2018, 48 in 2019, 150 in 2020, 263 in 2021, 585 in 2022, 394 in 2023, 438 in 2024, and already 199 so far in 2025.
In July 2024, Mayor Adams led a charge supporting an effort urging the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold commonsense ghost gun regulations. Along with Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., Mayor Adams announced the filing of an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Garland v. VanDerStok, in support of federal regulations issued by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that require ghost gun parts to have serial numbers and compel background checks for prospective buyers of ghost gun home-assembly kits.
Every firearm taken off a city street is only one part of the equation. Ensuring meaningful consequences for the small percentage of New Yorkers who carry illegal firearms and commit acts of violence is equally critical. The 2019 state legislative changes to discovery were necessary to improve the fairness of the criminal justice system, however, some of the consequences have crippled the system, leading to case dismissals for technical violations and increased case processing times, including for firearm charges. Prior to discovery reform, local district attorneys declined to prosecute or dismissed 32 percent of non-violent felony cases in New York City — that number increased to nearly 52 percent in 2024.
Ending gun violence continues to be Mayor Adams’ top priority. In his first month in office, in January 2022, Mayor Adams released the “Blueprint to End Gun Violence,” which laid out his priorities to immediately address the crisis of guns on New York City streets. Pursuant to the blueprint, in March 2022, the NYPD launched its Neighborhood Safety Teams to focus on gun violence prevention in areas that account for a disproportionate amount of citywide shootings.
Mayor Adams’ comprehensive gun violence strategy also includes upstream solutions guided by the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force he established in June 2022, which focuses on diversion programs, prevention efforts, and expanded opportunities for young people — all targeting the root causes of gun violence to ensure a safer environment for all New Yorkers. The task force’s commitments are formalized in the “Blueprint for Community Safety,” an investment of nearly $500 million to create safer, more resilient communities, with a focus on intervention and prevention.
The Adams administration also leads the Gun Violence Strategies Partnership, a 30+ multi-agency law enforcement partnership focused on strengthening investigations and prosecutions of the most severe gun offenders who drive violence in New York City. Members of the team meet every weekday morning to review felony gun violence arrests from the previous 24 hours and share intelligence to ensure perpetrators are held accountable and New Yorkers are kept safe. The partnership reviewed more than 700 cases in 2024, resulting in 85.5 percent of individuals being held on bail or remanded.
Today’s announcement continues to build on Mayor Adams’ “End the Culture of Anything Goes” campaign, which highlights the work the administration has done to date to change the culture and laws that prevented people with severe mental illness from getting the help they needed, while simultaneously making the investments necessary to support outreach, harm reduction, wraparound services, and housing — all in an effort to make lasting impacts in lives and communities. Mayor Adams is bringing the same energy and approach that proved to be successful in carving a new path to help people with severe mental illness to address other health crises, like gun violence, playing out on city streets.
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