New York state budget creates Office of Gun Violence Prevention

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — The enacted state budget for fiscal year 2025 creates a formal New York State Office of Gun Violence Prevention to consolidate gun control efforts. OGVP will be part of the Division of Criminal Justice Services, the agency that oversees law-enforcement training and data collection.

OGVP “will direct the coordination of state, local, and federal government stakeholders,” the law reads, "to prevent and address gun violence." It's supposed to manage grant programs, help hospitals treat victims immediately after a shooting, run public education campaigns, and improve data on gun injuries by tracking and sharing information across state, local, and federal agencies.

Democratic legislators said the total for gun violence programs is $325 million for the fiscal year. According to Governor Kathy Hochul's office, it's $327 million. The budget bills specifically earmark just under $60 million that's new:

• $2.5 million for the OGVP
• $7.2 million for community-based gun- and domestic-violence prevention programs
• $40 million for police and legal costs to better enforce Extreme Risk Protection Orders, or “red flag” laws
• $10 million in competitive grants to local community groups like the Greater Direction mentorship programs in Buffalo

OGVP is supposed to focus on local impacts, putting together school programs, funding violence intervention groups, and supporting survivors of crimes committed with guns. They're scheduled to start hiring in the summer and awarding grants on October 1.

A federal Office of Gun Violence Prevention shut down under President Donald Trump. In New York, supporters said the state office, which until now had existed only by executive order, positions the state at the head of gun issues nationwide.

"The establishment of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention is a monumental step forward in protecting our communities from the devastating impacts of gun violence," said Rebecca Fischer, executive director of the advocacy group New Yorkers Against Gun Violence. "With the Trump Administration pulling back essential funding and dismantling vital programs, New York's leadership is now more critical than ever."

State Senator Zellnor Myrie, who sponsored the OGVP bill language that made it into the budget, said that a statewide office is “essential to leading a comprehensive government response to the gun violence crisis.” Myrie, who's running for New York City Mayor, noted that shootings there remain at pre-pandemic levels. He added that the OGVP should help victims and neighborhoods share better policies to prevent violence.

Of course, New Yorkers face gun violence outside of New York City, too. For example, a Rochester park shooting in July 2024 injured five and killed two more. In May 2022, a white supremacist killed 10 people at a Buffalo supermarket. And proponents of the gun control efforts pointed to sobering statewide statistics like gun violence being the leading cause of death for children and teens and the deaths of over 1,000 New Yorkers dying from—and 8,300 injured by—gun violence each year.

Republican legislators far and wide have decried most of the budget for being too expensive and ignoring effective solutions to violent crime. "Instead of protecting our communities, she’s doubling down on a dangerous pro-criminal agenda,” said State Senator Peter Oberacker.