Big Apple officials crushed nearly 3,600 illegal guns on Thursday with a timber chipper-like machine.
Approximately 3,575 semi-automatic weapons, stolen from the streets of the city in a now-closed criminal case, was fed to Chipper at an event in Westbury just two days after the innocent grandmother was killed by enemy shooting in Harlem.
“It’s very important to destroy these guns,” Hezoner said at the headquarters of Reworld, an evidence-destruction vendor. “It’s not only substantial, it means that we don’t just remove guns from our streets, but there’s a level of symbolism that comes with it, and we won’t surrender to violence.
“These are weapons of destruction, weapons of pain, weapons of confusion we are removing from the streets,” he added. “And we know we need to do more, and we know we need to do more, this is what keeps me up at night.
Adams pointed to the fatal shooting of the Exenia Mette on Tuesday night. 61 – An innocent bystander who hears gunshots and comes outside to see if his grandson is OK.
“[I was] Yesterday I’m talking to the son of a victim of gun violence and talking about the beautiful life his mother lived in and how she contributed to the Harlem community,” the mayor said.
“If we lose someone to violence early, it affects us all. Even if a bullet hits the intended target, the emotional path doesn’t stop,” he added. “It continues to tear the anatomy of our city, the anatomy of our community, that’s why we’re here today.”
Adams said the weapons currently being destroyed are just a small portion of the over 21,400 guns seized during his administration.
Of the 21,400, more than 1,400 have been identified as ghost guns. It is a non-Saarianized, untrackable weapon assembled from a kit or printed through a 3-D printer.
The number of ghost guns recovered in the city has been steadily rising since 2018, when the NYPD seized 17 such weapons, officials said.
That number almost tripled in 2019 when 48 ghost guns were recovered, and soared to 150 in 2020, 263 in 2021, 585 in 2022, 394 in 2023 and 438 in 2024.
Authorities say 71 ghost guns have been seized so far.
“From day one, this administration has done its best to reduce gun violence,” Adams said. “From our Gun Violence Prevention Task Force to our neighborhood safety team, I have testified in front of Congress about gun violence, urged the Supreme Court to support Gun Safety Act, worked with leaders and mayors around the country, suing Ghost Guns makers and marketers.”
Scrap from the destroyed gun will be donated to the Coop Tech School of Technology Education in East Harlem. There, students in the welding occupation program will use metal to create a memorial to honor victims who have been lost in gun violence.
“We would like to thank you for taking part in this important project,” said NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tish. “These guns have no place in our neighborhood. They stab fear, pain, and destroyed lives. And they belong here to the industrial metal shredder tear boxes.”
Adams invited families of people lost in gun violence to call out the names of relatives who were killed when the gun passed through the shredder.
“I’m going to say this again and again, and it needs to be a constant message,” Hizzoner said. “This is the day we have to decide who we are on. Who are you on? Are you on the side of adding and protecting people who are inflicting violence on innocent people?
