Transcript: Mayor Eric Adams Calls for Credit Card Companies to Improve Tracking of Gun Sales

August 30, 2022

Comptroller Brad Lander: It is now my pleasure to introduce Mayor Eric Adams. As you know, Mayor Adams is a forthright champion for action to reduce gun violence. You've seen him do that in many different roles, as a police officer, as a state senator, as a borough president, as mayor, as a Met Gala attendee. But I think it may be that today is the first time that he's taking action to prevent gun violence in his role as a pension fund trustee. Mayor Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Was it intentionally that I was standing to the right of you? [Laughter.] And having Assemblywoman Jackson, Senator Myrie, who's just continue to produce just some smart, good thinking legislation. And the AG. AG has rolled out a countless number of pieces of legislation partnered together around ghost guns, partnered together around holding manufacturers accountable. It's just real partnership here. And Jumaane. Jumaane, throughout the years, we have come together around dealing with the overproliferation of guns. And you don't have to agree on everything to agree on the fact that we have to be safe. The overproliferation of guns, the Bruen decision, the failure of gun manufacturers and now even as the comptroller has discovered, the role that credit card companies could play. We do it for — if someone purchased fertilizer, there are notifications that are made. And we have this code when you purchase other items.

Mayor Adams: Why can't we have this code when you purchase guns? This is a real issue. 316 people a day are shot by guns in our country, 106 die from guns. When you think about these numbers, these are astronomical numbers. And I say it over and over again. We have to dam every river that feeds the sea of violence. We are continuously damming those rivers in government. We have allowed manufacturers and those who allow cash to go into companies, they must be part of the damming process as well. We are not leaving any stone unturned. Everyone must play a role in damming the rivers that are leading to the gun violence we're seeing in the city and in this entire country. And so I'm happy to be here with our partners, Senator Kavanagh joining us as well. I'm happy to be here with our partners. And I want to thank you, comptroller, and the entire team here who brought this together. And using our pension dollars to ensure that it is helping lives, not destroying lives. This is the responsibility that we have and that creativity that we are bringing today is so important. So thank you. Thank you, comptroller.

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