What really happens to the thousands of illegal guns the NYPD pulls off New York City streets? The department answered in a new post: they are melted down, never to cause harm again. The 89-second video shows officers loading tagged firearms into evidence boxes and trucks, then crushing piles of guns and pouring out molten metal from the destroyed weapons. For anyone who has wondered whether seized guns can quietly find their way back into circulation, the clip is meant to show a definite end.

The practice is not new. In April 2025, city officials publicly destroyed more than 3,500 seized illegal firearms in a single event, and the NYPD has been pairing these displays with its gun seizure numbers ever since. On October 29, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced that the department had seized 4,500 illegal guns so far in 2026, while shootings in the city have fallen to record lows. The NYPD says taking those guns off the street is a key reason for the drop, though other factors usually play a part in changes in violence. The post raises its own questions, such as how long guns are held before destruction and what happens to the metal afterward.