NEWYORK: New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch announced that the NYPD has removed more than 25,000 illegal firearms from New York City streets since the start of the Adams administration in January 2022, with this year alone, the NYPD already seizing more than 5,200 illegal guns.
This success has helped drive shootings down by 55 percent and homicides by 35.5 percent since the beginning of the Adams administration.
The decrease in these violent crimes can also be attributed to the upstream efforts of violence interrupters, who have worked to stop gun violence before it first takes place.
As a result, Mayor Adams, today, awarded the Key to the City of New York to 29 organizations that participate in the Crisis Management System (CMS) program run by the Office to Prevent Gun Violence within the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development.
CMS is a partnership of organizations including a network of residents, credible messengers, and community leaders-that mediate community conflicts, connect young people aged 16 to 24 most at risk of gun violence to mentorship and risk reduction plans, and mobilize the community to promote peace and shift norms around the use of violence.
It is comprised of a street outreach and violence intervention model, with wrap-around services that improve quality of life, address trauma, and promote peace among those most affected by violence, while also ensuring historically disenfranchised New Yorkers have access to opportunities needed to thrive.
Twenty-nine total providers were honored for their work to keep communities safe with one Key to the City of New York for each borough.
“Our administration has been laser focused on public safety, and that focus has led to years of meaningful, visible improvements, including a whopping 55 percent decrease in shootings since we came into office,” said Mayor Adams.
“The numbers don’t lie, which is why we are proud to announce yet another milestone of 25,000 guns removed from our streets since we took office. In a world where just one gun can tear an entire community apart, removing 25,000 of them has saved untold number of lives and kept families whole. This builds on our incredible record of public safety, including driving a 55 percent decrease in shootings and 35.5 percent reduction in homicides citywide since the beginning of this administration. The first 11 months of 2025 had the lowest number of shooting incidents and shooting victims ever recorded in an 11-month span. We know we cannot do this work alone, which is why we are proud to give the Key to the City to the 29 nonprofit providers in the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development’s Crises Management System program, who interrupt violence and keep communities safe every day. I hope their work will continue to grow and thrive so New Yorkers can continue to experience the safety and peace of mind they deserve.”
“Removing illegal guns from our streets is one of the most important ways we protect lives, and the NYPD has stayed relentlessly focused on that mission,” said NYPD Commissioner Tisch.
“Since the start of the Adams administration, our officers have seized more than 25,000 illegal firearms — over 5,000 of them this year alone. That work has helped drive shooting incidents and shooting victims to their lowest levels ever, by far, in 2025. These results are not accidental; they reflect precision policing, smart deployment, and the commitment of officers who put themselves in harm’s way to keep communities safe. I’m grateful to Mayor Adams for making public safety a top priority, and to every member of the NYPD whose work continues to make New York City safer.”
“Gun violence is a serious issue, and we must deal with it seriously. The complex challenges of gun violence are multi-faceted and go way beyond the gun,” said Mayor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships Executive Director Pastor Gilford T. Monrose.
“The clergy partnership that Mayor Adams initiated and funded within the faith community changed the way we dealt with the root causes of the violence in this city. Removing over 25,000 guns and ending the year with the lowest number of individuals shot proved that coordination with strong clergy leadership, and a shared responsibility for public safety, resulted in a continued decline in gun violence to historic lows.”
