New York Launches Powerful Gun Safety Campaign as Utica and Mohawk Valley Lead the Way in Reducing Gun Violence
Governor Hochul’s $1 million “End Family Fire” campaign brings safe firearm storage education to every corner of New York, and the numbers out of Utica show this kind of prevention-first approach is working.
Gun violence does not begin and end on the street. It happens in living rooms, bedrooms, and kitchens. It happens when a curious child finds an unsecured weapon. It happens when a person in crisis reaches for a firearm stored within arm’s reach. It happens when a teenager gets hold of a loaded gun that was never locked away. On June 24, 2026, Governor Kathy Hochul announced a $1 million statewide campaign called “End Family Fire” to confront exactly that reality, partnering with Brady: United Against Gun Violence and the Ad Council to educate New York gun owners about secure firearm storage. And for communities like Utica, Rome, and the broader Mohawk Valley, where years of targeted investment in gun violence prevention have produced measurable results, this new campaign is both timely and personal.
What Is the “End Family Fire” Campaign?
Led by the New York State Office of Gun Violence Prevention within the Division of Criminal Justice Services and developed in partnership with Brady: United Against Gun Violence and the Ad Council, the campaign is part of New York’s comprehensive approach to strengthening public safety and reducing firearm deaths and injuries. ny
The $1 million End Family Fire New York PSA campaign will connect New Yorkers with secure firearm storage information through online and traditional platforms, including social media, out-of-home, radio and television, and a New York-specific End Family Fire website. Campaign advertising and outreach will continue through February 2027. ny
This is not a ban. It is not a gun confiscation program. It is a public education effort, the same kind of common-sense outreach that told us to buckle our seatbelts and not to drink and drive, aimed at encouraging responsible gun ownership by making sure firearms are stored safely, away from children and away from moments of crisis.
The Numbers Behind the Campaign
The statistics driving this initiative are not abstractions. They represent real families in real communities across New York.
According to Brady, the presence of a firearm in a home increases the risk of suicide more than three-fold, and nationally, more than 300 children unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else each year. Approximately seven million children live in homes with access to an unsecured firearm. ny
Those are seven million children whose safety depends entirely on whether an adult in their household made the decision to lock up their firearm and store ammunition separately.
Since its national launch in 2018, the End Family Fire campaign has helped drive over three million viewers to seek out more information on safe firearm storage nationwide and has demonstrated success increasing secure firearm storage practices among gun owners, with almost 60 percent who saw the ads changing how or where they keep their firearms in order to store them in a safer manner. ny
That last number matters. Sixty percent. This is not a campaign that preaches to people who do not own guns. It is reaching gun owners, persuading them, and changing behavior. That is exactly what prevention looks like.
What Leaders Are Saying
Governor Hochul was direct about the purpose of this initiative: “New York continues to make historic progress reducing gun violence and making our communities safer. At the same time, we know too many firearm tragedies happen in homes and involve family members, children and loved ones. This public education campaign will empower gun owners with information and resources on how to securely store their firearms, helping protect their families and prevent needless injuries and deaths.”
New York State Office of Gun Violence Prevention Director Calliana Thomas said, “Families take simple steps every day to keep their loved ones safe, from buckling seat belts to locking doors at night. Safe firearm storage is another important way to reduce risk and help prevent tragedy. By storing firearms unloaded, locked and separate from ammunition, gun owners can help prevent unintentional shootings, children gaining access to firearms and suicide.” ny
Brady President Kris Brown said, “We applaud New York for launching the End Family Fire public education campaign and for investing in a proven strategy to prevent firearm-related tragedies before they happen. Gun owners across the state want to keep their loved ones safe, and this campaign provides practical information proven to prevent unintentional shootings, youth access to firearms and suicide.” ny
New York State Department of Veterans’ Services Commissioner Dr. Viviana M. DeCohen added, “Secure firearm storage is a practical, responsible step that can help protect Veterans, Service Members, families, and communities.” ny
The inclusion of veterans’ voices in this campaign is not an accident. Firearm access and suicide risk among veterans is one of the most pressing public health challenges in the country, and safe storage is one of the most effective interventions available.
The Statewide Numbers Show the Strategy Is Working
The End Family Fire campaign does not exist in a vacuum. It builds on years of investment in gun violence prevention that are producing documented, measurable results across New York State.
Data from the Division of Criminal Justice Services shows an 18 percent decrease in shooting incidents with injury in communities participating in the state’s Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) initiative during the first five months of 2026 compared to the same time last year. There also were 164 fewer individuals shot, a 20 percent drop, and a 49 percent decline in firearm-related murders. ny
These are not small movements on the margins. A 49 percent decline in firearm-related murders in five months is a landmark achievement. It represents lives that did not end on the wrong side of a gun in 2026.
Through March 2026, the 28 police departments participating in the GIVE initiative collectively reported 81 shooting incidents involving injury, down 65 percent compared to 229 during the same period in 2021. The number of individuals shot declined 66 percent, while the number of individuals killed by gun violence dropped 74 percent compared to 2021. New York Governor
Utica and the Mohawk Valley: Progress That Matters Here
For readers of the Utica Phoenix, these statewide statistics connect directly to our own backyard.
Five police departments, in Utica, Troy, Newburgh, Mount Vernon and Hempstead, reported zero shooting incidents in the first three months of 2026. New York Governor
Zero shooting incidents in Utica through the first quarter of 2026. That is a headline that deserves to be celebrated and understood. It did not happen by accident.
In 2025, Utica saw 10 shooting incidents involving injury, 12 shooting victims and three deaths by gun violence, down from 13 shootings with injuries in 2024, 16 shooting victims and six deaths by gun violence. The five-year average in Utica from 2020 to 2024 was 29 shootings with injuries, 33 shooting victims and six deaths by gun violence. Rome Sentinel
Going from a five-year average of 29 shooting incidents with injury down to 10 in 2025, and then to zero in the first quarter of 2026, is the product of community investment, law enforcement partnership, SNUG outreach workers on the ground in Utica neighborhoods, and the kind of sustained effort that this campaign is designed to reinforce.
SNUG employs full-time and part-time personnel who work in specific neighborhoods including Utica, connecting individuals with services and reducing gun violence through a public health approach. New York Governor
The GIVE initiative currently provides $36 million for equipment, overtime, and personnel, as well as comprehensive, focused training and technical assistance, to 28 participating police departments and their county law enforcement partners. These police departments account for roughly 90 percent of violent crimes involving firearms and 85 percent of all violent crime reported outside the five boroughs. ny
What Safe Firearm Storage Actually Means
The “End Family Fire” campaign centers on a simple, three-part principle: store firearms unloaded, locked, and separate from ammunition. That is it. That is the message.
A firearm that is unloaded and locked in a secure storage container, with ammunition stored separately, cannot be easily accessed by a child who is curious. It cannot be grabbed in a moment of emotional crisis. It cannot be stolen and quickly used in a street crime. Responsible storage does not make firearms unavailable to their owners in a genuine self-defense situation. It makes them unavailable to everyone else.
New York is the fifth state to partner with Brady and the Ad Council on the End Family Fire campaign. New York is also distributing gun locks and safe storage brochures to community-based organizations, law enforcement agencies, and service providers, who are hosting events to highlight the importance of keeping firearms locked, unloaded and stored separately from ammunition. ny
Gun owners in the Mohawk Valley can access free resources and information at the New York-specific End Family Fire website: endfamilyfire.org/ny.
Why This Matters for Every Family, Gun Owner or Not
You do not have to own a gun for this campaign to affect your community. Every unsecured firearm in a neighbor’s home is a potential risk to every child who visits that home. Every gun kept loaded and accessible is one crisis moment away from a tragedy that cannot be undone.
Gun violence prevention is not a partisan issue. It is a family issue. It is a community issue. The decline in gun violence in Utica and across New York over the past several years is proof that targeted, evidence-based strategies work. The “End Family Fire” campaign adds another tool to that toolbox, this one aimed squarely at the tragedies that begin at home.
If you are a gun owner in the Mohawk Valley, take a moment to visit endfamilyfire.org/ny and review your current storage practices. If you know someone who owns firearms, share this resource with them. A single conversation could prevent a tragedy.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, available 24 hours a day.
Prevention Saves Lives
New York’s “End Family Fire” campaign is not the whole answer to gun violence. But it is the right question asked in the right direction: how do we stop tragedies before they happen? How do we keep guns out of the hands of children and people in crisis without restricting the rights of responsible owners?
The answer, backed by data and lived experience, is education, accessibility of resources, and a culture shift that treats secure firearm storage the way we now treat wearing a seatbelt. Not as a burden. Not as a political statement. But as a basic, common-sense responsibility to the people we love and the community we share.
Utica has earned its progress. New York has earned its progress. Now the work is to protect it.
Register to vote, stay engaged, and support policies and leaders who invest in the safety of our communities. Visit vote.ny.gov to make sure you are registered.
By David LaGuerre | Utica Phoenix | www.uticaphoenix.net
Sources: Governor Hochul’s Office, End Family Fire NY, Brady: United Against Gun Violence, NY DCJS GIVE Initiative, Rome Sentinel / Utica Gun Violence 2025
