Opinion: How to prevent more mass shootings

Last month, a gunman – apparently convinced he had been wronged by a specific actor he had never met – drove across the country to engage in a deliberate, targeted attack and exact his revenge on complete strangers.

And in an instant, four innocent lives were cut down in midtown Manhattan.

While shocking, it is sadly not surprising.

The targeted violence that shook Park Avenue two weeks ago has been on the rise for at least a decade. Government officials, political figures, business leaders and everyday Americans have been subject to threats and violence because of real or perceived resentments and affronts.

And whether a former athlete who believes he suffered from a brain condition caused by the NFL, or a disaffected racist motivated by the white replacement theory who murders ten Black New Yorkers in a Buffalo supermarket, these attacks share much in common: grievance, radicalization and easy domestic access to destructive weapons of war.

With these targeted attacks on the rise, we must build new strategies to save lives through prevention. This means recognizing the unique nature of this threat and recalibrating accordingly.

For decades, governments have invested in mitigating targeted violence after it occurs, like erecting concrete barriers at sensitive locations, and installing a constellation of security cameras to help apprehend and convict assailants.

But prevention requires an altogether different strategy.

The state and our partners in law enforcement skillfully disrupt violent plots on a regular basis. However, a 2023 study by respected terrorism experts found that violent domestic extremists were successful in 57% of planned attacks since 9/11. That success rate is downright frightening and underscores that mitigation and response alone are not enough.

Gov. Kathy Hochul understands we must use every tactic available to save lives through prevention. And until very recently, we had good partners in the federal government to guide us. In the aftermath of the Buffalo murders, we turned to the federal Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3), an office that helped create ideologically neutral, life-saving violence intervention programs and research initiatives throughout the country.

Using their technical assistance and guidance, we took small federally funded pilot prevention teams in Erie and Monroe Counties (Buffalo and Rochester, respectively) and expanded them with $10 million in annual commitments from the governor to build a statewide program that now covers New York City and 52 of the state’s other 57 counties.

But in May, the Trump administration proposed stripping CP3 of its funding, ending the Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention Grant Program. Then, they appointed a 22-year-old just a year out of college to lead this essential office.

Yes, just one month before tragic targeted assassinations of Minnesota lawmakers rocked our conscience, the Department of Homeland Security all but declared they would no longer be in the business of preventing this type of violence.

Why would an administration claiming to be so focused on keeping Americans safe eliminate a program aimed at preventing violence and terrorism? It can’t be the price tag – at $18 million, it’s a rounding error compared to the tax cuts the Trump administration just showered on the superrich in the big ugly spending package.

Maybe it's the absence of easy optics. Prevention work doesn’t make for splashy photo ops. There are no armored vehicles to stand in front of, body armor to don or helicopters to cosplay in.

Preventing targeted violence of all ideological stripes requires the hard, thankless work of sitting in rooms with local organizations to find ways to help people before they get too far down the path of radicalization and are mobilized to violence. It’s about linking law enforcement resources with local mental health resources and schools, major employers, religious leaders and social services so these community leaders can connect the dots. It’s about saving all lives – those of untold future victims, but also that of the would-be attacker.

And prevention works. The investments New York has made now support 1,000 active intervention cases. Each team that’s been running for more than a year has made saves. That’s a kid in class, a neighbor, someone you might know.

We must also pair prevention strategies with sane gun laws that keep devastatingly powerful guns meant for battlefields out of the hands of those struggling with radical violent ideation and mental illness. The assault weapons ban must be restored. 

New York is a model for other states, with or without the backing of federal partners. We are in the midst of an American crisis when elected officials, supermarket shoppers and office workers can be gunned down while just going through their daily routines.

We have an even bigger problem when we know what works to reduce this violence, and our leaders in Washington appear to not care.