eight days into adam's tenure as mayor, an apartment fire in the bronx killed 17 people including eight children. new york city had an increase in crime during the first months of adams's tenure as mayor. because of the increase of crime, president joe biden and attorney general merrick garland visited new york city and promised to work with adams to crack down on homemade firearms, which lack traceable serial numbers and can be acquired without background checks. adams has criticized the black lives matter movement for not protesting against ongoing gun violence within the black community.