Biden to talk gun violence with Adams in visit to NYC

President Joe Biden will come to New York City and meet with Mayor Eric Adams next week to discuss combating gun violence, the White House announced Wednesday.

Biden and Adams plan to “discuss the Administration’s comprehensive strategy to combat gun crime, which includes historic levels of funding for cities and states to put more cops on the beat and invest in community violence prevention and intervention programs, as well as stepped up federal law enforcement efforts against illegal gun traffickers,” according to a statement from the White House.

The trip will take place next Thursday, Feb. 3.

Adams said he was pleased by the upcoming visit.

“I look forward to welcoming President Biden to New York City next week and sitting down to discuss how we can work collaboratively to end the scourge of gun violence we are seeing on New York City streets," the mayor said in a statement.

"Public safety is my administration’s highest priority, and we welcome the opportunity to display to President Biden how federal and local governments can coordinate and support each other in this fight to keep New Yorkers safe," he said.

The planned summit comes as Adams is scrambling to combat a surge in gun violence in the city and deliver on his key campaign promise of restoring public safety.

Two NYPD officers were fatally shot in Harlem on Friday, the latest in a spate of high-profile crimes. In response to the shooting, Adams called for federal help to crack down on gun trafficking. “We need Washington to act now to stop the flow of weapons into our cities,” he said.

But the city is also facing a possible federal threat to its anti-gun efforts: The Supreme Court is preparing to rule on whether to throw out New York laws that require firearm owners to show a particular, unusual need to get a permit to carry a gun outside the home. Conservative justices seemed inclined to throw out the laws.

Adams rolled out an anti-violence plan this week, which includes bringing back a controversial NYPD plainclothes unit that was disbanded in 2020. He also called for more restrictive bail laws and the ability to charge teenagers as adults in some gun cases.

Earlier Wednesday, Adams joined Gov. Kathy Hochul for the first meeting of a new Interstate Task Force on Illegal Guns. There, Hochul suggested she would back legislative leaders who are reluctant to roll back bail reforms in response to Adams’ push.

Adams previously met with Biden to discuss gun violence at the White House with other local officials last summer after he won the Democratic primary for mayor.

Biden offered his condolences after the shooting of the two cops last week. “We’re keeping them and their families in our prayers. Officers put on the badge and head into harm’s way every day. We’re grateful to them and their families for their extraordinary sacrifice,” he said in a tweet.