By Michael V. Cusenza
On Sunday, just 24 hours before a lone gunman shot and killed four people in a high-profile Park Avenue office building, Mayor Eric Adams trumpeted an increase in illegal gun seizures that he said has led to three consecutive years of declines in shootings and homicides in the Big Apple.
The City Police Department has removed more than 3,000 illegal firearms from Gotham 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 22,700. This success has helped drive a 54 percent decrease in shootings and a 36 percent reduction in homicides citywide under the Adams administration.
“Nothing makes me prouder than the records we are setting when it comes to reducing gun violence and increasing safety. When you think about the first six months of this year, with our crisis management team, the Police Department, police officers, the commissioner and our leadership, we have witnessed the lowest number of shootings and homicides in the recorded history of the city,” Adams said. “And we accomplished that task because if guns are not on the street, they cannot be used to harm innocent people, and we accomplished that. Over the last three and a half years, we have worked to create safer streets, safer subways, safer public housing locations, and places where children and families are.”
Additionally Adams noted that, “overall major crimes also continue to trend downward. From January through June 2025, major crimes citywide dropped 5.5 percent compared to the same period last year, resulting in 3,348 fewer victims of major crimes across the five boroughs. In 2025, major crime declined 6 percent citywide, driven by decreases in all seven major crime categories with additional reduction in transit crime, housing development crime, hate crimes, and more.”
Adams and City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch praised the rank and file for the “record-smashing” gun numbers.
“Far too often, ballistic analysis shows that a single gun is tied to multiple shootings. That’s the level of threat we’re neutralizing and the level of work that our great officers are doing,” Tisch said on Sunday. “So let me pause for a second and say thank you to the men and women of the NYPD who truly deserve the credit here. You’re out there day and night, on weekends, on holidays, tracking shooters and walking into danger.”
Adams added, “Nothing makes me prouder than the records we are setting in the fight against gun violence that are making our city safer. With six straight quarters of crime reductions and over 22,700 illegal firearms seized since 2022, we’re making real progress—one gun at a time. Each gun seized represents a life saved, a family protected, and a community made safer. Public safety is the prerequisite for everything else we do in this city, and, over the last three and a half years, we have worked to create safer streets, safer subways, and a safer city for all New Yorkers and their families.”
