New York State Sees A Big Drop In Gun Violence This Year

Today, August 21, 2025, it was announced that gun violence throughout New York State has significantly dropped so far in 2025.

According to New York State Governor Kathy Hochul, shooting incidents with injuries dropped 14% over 7 months in communities participating in the Gun Violence Elimination initiative.

There was a 21 percent decrease in shooting deaths compared to the same period in 2024, as reported by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services.  Data comes from the 28 police departments outside of New York City participating in GIVE, including Binghamton, Ithaca, and Elmira in Tier 2.

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Gun violence in New York is falling as a direct result of our record investments in public safety and prevention initiatives. As we work with our public safety partners to make real progress in the fight against gun crimes, I remain committed to investing in programs that keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals and keep our communities safe. - New York State Governor Kathy Hochul

 

Major New York State City Shooting Incident Declines

From January 1st through July 31st, 2025, reductions in shooting incidents with injury include Albany with a 53% decline, Buffalo, a 25% decline, NYC, almost a 20% decline, Syracuse, a 10% decline, and Rochester with an 8% decline.

According to the report from the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, in 2024, Binghamton reported 4 shooting incidents from January through July and 8 for the same period in 2025. Shooting victims have increased during the same period from 4 in 2024 to 9 in 2025. Individuals killed by a firearm were 1 for both 2024 and 2024 from January 1 to July 31.

Tier 1 And Tier 2 New York State Police Departments

• Tier I police departments focus on reducing the number of shootings and fatalities are the cities of Albany, Buffalo, Hempstead, Mount Vernon, Nassau County, Newburgh, Niagara Falls, Poughkeepsie, Rochester, Schenectady, Suffolk County, Syracuse, Troy, Utica, and Yonkers.
• Tier II police departments focus on reducing firearm-related violent crimes and include Amherst, Auburn, Binghamton, Cheektowaga, Elmira, Greece, Ithaca, Jamestown, Kingston, Lackawanna, Middletown, Spring Valley, and Watertown.

For more information, visit the report on Governor Hochul's website.