A Harlem mom who lost two sons to shootings spoke passionately about tackling gun violence as the NYPD announced seizing more than 1,000 firearms from city streets so far this year.
Jackie Rowe-Adams made clear “enough to enough” while NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch credited cracking down on gangs and flooding officers in crime-riddled neighborhoods for hitting the milestone in the first three months of 2026.
“Let me say as a mother who lost two kids to gun violence I am sick and tired of being sick and tired of every time we hear the TV or pick up the paper it’s about losing lives and illegal guns coming into our city,” said the Harlem Mothers SAVE founder as Tisch and state Attorney General Letitia James stood by at a press conference in Brownsville.
“But NYPD ain’t playing no games no more.”
Rowe-Adams, 77, knows the tragic consequences due to the proliferation of firearms. Her 17-year-old son was killed in Harlem in 1982 while another son, who was 28, was killed in Baltimore in 1998, according to past reports.
“Let’s get it together and start saving lives for the city of New York,” she said. “No more guns, no more illegal guns and no more deaths.”
Overall, 1,054 guns have been seized with 305 confiscated in Brooklyn, another 251 in the Bronx and 240 in Manhattan, according to the NYPD. Cops grabbed 194 guns in Queens and 64 more on Staten Island.
Fifty-two firearms were untraceable ghost guns. Many of the weapons were laid out on tables during the announcement.
Last year during the first three months of the year, more than 1,300 guns were seized.
The city has seen record low shootings and gunshot victims in the first two months of this year compared to any other year on record, according to NYPD figures.
Tisch said during the press conference the NYPD had a “multi-prong” approach to getting guns off the street while stating the agency has changed its approach to combatting shootings.
She said officers are laser focused on “going after the guns and going after the gangs.”
“This is precision policing,” she said, noting an “unprecedented” number of cops – about 2,000 — are sent into neighborhoods each night that have been plagued by gunfire.
She also said the department has ramped up its effort to take down gangs.
“When we do a big gang takedown in a community it can affect the shooting levels and the level of violence in that community for years to come,” Tisch said.
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