Leaving Office, Byron Brown Creates Office of Gun Violence Prevention
Before he walked out of City Hall one last time and joined his new position with Off Track Betting, former Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown wanted to try and cement his legacy by addressing gun violence.
Brown, who was at the helm of the city as it dealt with the loss of 10 lives during a racially-motivated shooting at the Tops on Jefferson Avenue in May 2022, announced the creation of the Office of Gun Violence Prevention during his farewell address.
“No city in America, no community in America, is immune to gun violence,” Brown said at the time.
He added, “We will work side by side with the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention to bring best practices for law enforcement and community-based intervention strategies back to the city of Buffalo.”
Brown said the city has seen a decline in gun violence, with shootings down 28% and shooting homicides down 58% in 2023, but more work is needed to bring those numbers down even further.
Zaneta Everhart, a member of the Buffalo Common Council whose son Zaire Goodman was among those injured in the Tops shooting, has made reducing gun violence a main focus of her political work. In July she called for this type of action, saying it was needed in Buffalo. “It is time. I am tired. I’m exhausted. I’m tired of hearing people talk about gun violence..our community deserves better and it has to start in government.”
Following Brown’s announcement, along with the ated support of acting Mayor Chris Scanlon, Everhart restated her belief that the work needs to start immediately, and it needs to involve students.
“We have 14-year-olds killing 14-year-olds with guns. We need them at the table. That is the preventative aspect,” she told a local reporter. “Getting them at the table and having them bring their friends along and have those conversations about what is going on in your neighborhood, what is going on in your home, what is going on in our life.” She is asking anyone interested in learning more about the new office to contact her at her Masten District Office.
Buffalo will team up with BestSelf Behavioral Health to help provide services to those affected by gun violence and will bring together the Division of Citizen Services’ Community Crime Prevention Manager and Save Our Streets Coordinator to staff the office and help organizations apply for grants to address gun violence issues.
Further, the city will hire a new anti-violence coordinator for the office, funded by the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Gun-Involved Elimination grant. The person hired for that job will be tasked with overseeing the implementation of prevention-based strategies as identified by the police department.
Current Memorial for 5/14 Victims
Gallery Credit: Amber Healey