VICTORY FOR GUN SAFETY: Governor Kathy Hochul, New York Lawmakers Include More than $350 Million in FY25 Budget Agreement for Gun Violence Prevention Programs; Moms Demand Action, Students Demand Action Respond 

ALBANY, NY – The New York chapters of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, both part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots network, released the following statement applauding Governor Kathy Hochul, Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Speaker Carl Heastie, and lawmakers for agreeing to a budget that sustains New York’s historic commitment of more than $350 million to fund gun violence prevention efforts across the state and invests in new efforts to combat violence this past weekend. 

“New York has long been a national leader in gun violence prevention and we’re grateful to Speaker Heastie, Leader Stewart-Cousins, and Governor Hochul for continuing to demonstrate their commitment with the passage of this budget,” said Alexis Gevanter, a volunteer with the New York chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Community violence prevention organizations are some of the most critical partners in ensuring that New York’s strong gun safety laws are successfully implemented and supporting the most impacted communities. This funding ensures that these life-saving programs have the resources and support to succeed for another year.” 

“When gun violence is the leading cause of death for my generation, we must prioritize funding for the organizations that are tackling this crisis head on,” said Cora Lynn Mundy, a volunteer leader with the Staten Island Academy Students Demand Action Chapter. “New York continues to be a leader in gun violence prevention and we’re grateful to see our lawmakers support the gun safety organizations working to reduce gun violence.” 

New York’s 2024 budget includes allocations for various programs and initiatives related to gun violence prevention, including:

• The Office of Victim Services; 
• Project Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) and related efforts to reduce gun and domestic violence in New York localities;
• Operation SNUG and other community violence intervention work;
• The summer youth employment program and other youth employment programs operating in Project GIVE localities; 
• Capital investments related to innovative crime-reduction strategies in communities affected by gun violence; 
• The operation of crime analysis centers and other related efforts, including the establishment of crime gun intelligence centers;
• Domestic violence prevention;
• Partnerships with community violence intervention programs working directly with the most impacted communities; 
• Enforcing and investigating extreme risk protection orders (ERPOs); and
• Re-entry services. 

While there is no one solution to end gun violence, community violence intervention (CVI) programs are essential to a comprehensive approach to reducing gun violence in our cities and guaranteeing funding is critical to their longevity and continued success. These programs apply an effective, localized approach to gun violence prevention in communities disproportionately affected by gun violence. Community-informed violence intervention programs have been shown to reduce firearm injuries and deaths. 

While historic investments have been made at all levels of government, CVI organizations still struggle to access promised funding and when they do, funding is restricted to programmatic expenses, preventing them from increasing staff, building their capacity or scaling to more people and places in need. 

New York is a national leader in gun violence prevention, with the second-strongest gun safety laws and the fourth-lowest rate of gun deaths in the US. In an average year, 939 people die by guns in New York, and another 1,991 are wounded. Gun deaths and injuries cost New York $11.4 billion each year, of which $301.2 million is paid by taxpayers. More information about gun violence in New York can be found here.