Mayor Creates Gun Violence Reduction Office, But Critics Question Its Potential Impact

CITY HALL — Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order on Thursday to create an Office of Gun Violence Reduction — the first step, he said, toward creating a permanent city department with the same name and mission to more efficiently administer anti-violence initiatives.

The move comes as Chicago saw historic declines in gun violence in 2025 before experiencing a slight rise in homicides and overall shootings so far this year — including over the Juneteenth weekend when at least 39 people were shot, six fatally.

Johnson’s order follows a Monday news conference held by anti-violence activists who renewed their years-long push for the creation of the standalone department.

Under the executive order, the gun violence reduction office will at least initially exist within the Mayor’s Office, although Johnson is backing a proposed ordinance to make it a full-fledged department like the Chicago Department of Transportation or Streets and Sanitation.

The creation of a department instead of an office would bring with it greater funding, procurement power, more staff and generally more authority to coordinate violence prevention efforts at City Hall, according to Johnson and supporters who’ve been behind the push under previous mayoral administrations.

Organizers previously said they hope the department would have an annual budget of at least $100 million, with many of those dollars sourced from public safety allocations already made elsewhere at City Hall. Johnson did not cite a specific budget number on Thursday.

The new office will be led by Emmanuel Andre, the current deputy mayor for community safety. Andre will also continue to serve in that role. The body will designate communities with high levels of violence as “Community Safety Priority Zones” to better coordinate anti-violence resources there, according to a press release.

It will also create an interagency “cabinet” of city department and agency leaders to coordinate public safety strategies, and publish monthly reports collecting gun violence data and intervention strategies.

Legislation establishing the full-scale department is expected to be introduced to the City Council next month and debated during the city’s budget process this fall, a mayoral spokesperson confirmed.

Johnson on Thursday likened the push to create a permanent gun violence reduction department to his administration’s resurrection in 2024 of the city’s Department of Environment, which had been dismantled by then Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2012. Activists had for years called on City Hall to convert the former Office of Climate and Environmental Equity back into a full department.

The same should be done for anti-gun violence efforts, Johnson said on Thursday.

“By establishing this centralized structure, we will be able to deliver resources and services quickly and strategically and effectively to the communities that need it the most,” Johnson said. “The [anti-violence] work that has stretched across multiple departments, not only does it interrupt productivity, that’s too much pressure on departments that have multiple tasks.”

The Chicago Police Department earlier this week deferred comment about the potential department to the Mayor’s Office.

The push to reconfigure Chicago’s anti-gun violence initiatives comes as summer violence is once again at the forefront for many communities across the city.

This past weekend’s shooting victims included at least 14 people who were wounded in a drive-by mass shooting Friday in the Princeton Park neighborhood on the Far South Side, in what Johnson last week called a “horrific act of violence.”

In 2025, Chicago recorded 416 homicides, the lowest in 60 years, according to police data, although numbers have ticked up so far this year.

Through June 21, there have been 198 homicides in Chicago, up from 182 during the same period last year. Year-to-date, the city has recorded 647 shootings, up from 614 in 2025.

At City Hall on Thursday, some alderpeople were already skeptical of Johnson’s bid to create a standalone gun violence reduction department.

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), who chairs the council’s public safety committee, said he expects the ordinance to get a “fair” hearing in front of the City Council — but he isn’t convinced it will actually make a difference.

“It may be necessary to look at the administration and the bureaucracy, but I don’t see a direct cause and effect with rearranging the desks and the furniture and titles to a reduction in crime, right?” Hopkins said.

Instead, Hopkins wants to see more investment and support of the police department and other law enforcement, citing the recent deployment of Cook County sheriff’s police officers on CTA trains.

“There’s no denying that policing works and arresting criminals works. The numbers are there, so we need to lean into that and supplement that with the types of community interventions and violence interrupter programs, and all that,” Hopkins said. “I recognize the value of that, but it cannot stand alone, and the time has come to re-emphasize traditional law enforcement.”

Bucktown and Lincoln Park Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd) was also critical of the department proposal, especially over giving the body authority to procure contracts on its own without City Council approval.

“Having something go directly to the Mayor’s Office and have them decide on it, or this department or commission, would be very problematic,” he said on Thursday.

But South Side Ald. William Hall (6th), who was present for the mayor’s executive order signing Thursday morning, said a standalone gun violence reduction department is sorely needed in his ward to better coordinate everything from big picture legislation to victim services after a shooting.

City Hall has an “ADHD approach” to gun violence, Hall said, and a dedicated department would help focus its efforts in one place.

“That’s a focus on legislation, focus on resources. A focus with collaborative partners around one issue is all Chicago’s been asking for, and I think that finally we have the beginning stages of a one focus, one solution office,” he said. “It’s long overdue.”

The executive order also creates an advisory council that will be composed of 17 Chicagoans with violence intervention and other backgrounds that will hold community meetings and give feedback to the newly-established office.