Op-ed | Delivering on safety: Record-low shootings and homicides in 2025

This National Gun Violence Awareness Month, where we honor and remember victims of gun crimes, our administration is making good on our promise to eradicate gun violence. From day one, we have worked to create safer streets, safer subways, and a safer city for all New York families.

We have listened to our communities and our neighbors and deployed resources where they are needed most. The numbers are in, and it is clear we are delivering a safer city for residents of the five boroughs. Thanks to our upstream and downstream investments, New York City has seen record-low shootings and homicides in 2025 already. Last month, we set the record for the fewest number of shooting incidents and homicides for the month of May in recorded history. And those massive declines in May led to New York City seeing the lowest number of shootings and homicides in recorded history for the first five months of the year.

But this is no accident, it is the result of our administration’s clear and continuing focus on eradicating gun violence in New York City.

Since the beginning of this year alone, the NYPD has taken over 2,200 illegal firearms off the streets. That is 2,200 weapons that no longer threaten the safety of our neighborhoods, our families, or our children. And since we came into office three years ago, we have now removed more than 22,000 illegal guns from our streets.

Each illegal gun we take off our streets is saving lives and damming up one more river that leads to the sea of violence. I have said it before: We must get criminals off our streets and illegal guns out of their hands. We must enforce our laws, prosecute wrongdoers, and fight recidivism. Every New Yorker must be safe and feel safe, confident that their city is looking out for them and their families, no matter where they live.

Shootings and homicides have consistently declined over the last three years thanks to our efforts. Since coming into office, shootings and homicides have declined 53.9% and 41.4%, respectively. These numbers show our comprehensive approach to reducing gun violence is making a difference, but it is just a piece of the massive drops in crime we are helping to achieve across our city.

We are now in our sixth straight quarter of declining crime in our city, and most major crime categories, including homicides, robberies, felony assaults, burglaries, grand larceny, and grand larceny auto have declined year-to-date. In fact, in May 2025, there was a 4.9% decrease in overall crime citywide.

Additionally, we are seeing promising decreases in shooting incidents and victims, transit crime, housing crime, retail theft, and hate crimes. Shooting incidents decreased by 38.6% compared to the previous year, representing 41 fewer shooting victims. And our subways are continuing to get safer, too. Transit crime was down by 5.6% last month across all boroughs.

While these numbers show real progress, we will not rest until all New Yorkers are safe — at home, on our subways, and on our streets. Because of our steadfast focus on public safety, and the hard work of the brave men and women of the NYPD, New York City remains the safest big city in America.

We will continue to work tirelessly every day and everywhere to build a safer, more affordable city that is the best place to raise a family.