Since US President Donald Trump returned to office in January, the federal government has terminated more than half of all funding for gun violence prevention program in the United States, slashing $158 million in grants directed for groups in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington DC, and Baltimore amid shooting in Manhattan on Monday that killed four people.
As per the government data analysed by Reuters, out of the 145 community violence intervention (CVI) grants which totals to more than $300 million awarded via the Department of Justice, 69 grants were abruptly cancelled in April.
The termination of the CVI grant by the Trump administration in April was part of a broader rollback being issued by the grant-issuing Office of Justice Programs, which terminated 365 grants valued at $811 million in April.
As a mark of respect for the memory of NYPD Officer Didarul Islam who died in the line of duty and the multiple victims of the mass shooting in Midtown Manhattan at 345 Park Avenue yesterday, I’ve ordered all flags on all city buildings and stationary flagstaffs throughout the… pic.twitter.com/EGHtafcrxt
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) July 29, 2025
An official from the Justice Department told Reuters the grants were terminated as they “no longer effectuate the program’s goals or agency’s priorities.” The official added that a number of grants under the Office of Justice Program remain under review, and are being evaluated on how well they support law enforcement and combat violent crime.
As per data from Gun Violence Archive, gun violence deaths in America grew more than 50% from 2015 to 21,383 in 2021 during the peak pandemic-era. Since then the gun violence death rate has seen a plunge to 16,725 in 2024 and as of May 2025, the deaths are down to 866 from the same period last year.
Deadly shootout in New York
On Monday, 27-year-old man named Shane Tamura who was a resident of Las Vegas, opened fire inside a skyscraper in Manhattan that led to the killing of at least four people, while Tamura died of self-inflicted wounds.
Tamura used a semi-automatic rifle while entering a Midtown Manhattan office tower and opened fire. In a note which he was carrying with him, the gunman blamed the National Football League (NFL) for a degenerative brain disease and asked to “study his brain”, said New York Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday.