This year, we’ve seen a significant downturn in so-called gun violence. While some like to say we’re just rebounding from the pandemic spike, the truth is that this seems to be a bit more. It’s been a good year, all things considered, though maybe not enough to reach levels akin to other developed nations.
Then again, when you take guns out of the equation, we’re still more violent than those countries, so I’m not really going to expect that to change anytime soon.
At The Trace, though, they need to continue with their mission to champion gun control under the guise of journalism, and that means taking the truth and trying to make it sound so much worse than it actually is.
ince the COVID-19 pandemic led to a spike in shootings, gun violence has been falling. Still, 2025 marked a milestone, with shooting deaths and injuries plummeting to some of their lowest levels on record.
Yet gun violence remains endemic. At least 40,000 people were shot in 2025 — more than 110 people a day across the country. And that doesn’t include gun suicides, which have been increasing.
Suicides, though, are a mental health issue, not a gun issue. Take the gun away and a person can still take their own life. It won’t be a “gun suicide,” though, which is all The Trace seems to give a damn about. Who cares about helping people who are hurting? It’s much more important to leverage their pain to make a political point.
However, let’s consider the whole “endemic” thing and the 110 people per day thing, for a moment.
This is a nation of more than 330 million people. I don’t feel like typing the number of zeroes I’d need to show what percentage of the population that 110 people thing actually covers. Yes, it’s per day, but that total number of people shot is still ridiculously low for such a large nation.
And these aren’t homicides. They’re mostly people who were shot and lived.
But if they’re going to report the numbers, they can only do so much to make things look worse. After all:
-14 percent
The percentage decrease in shooting deaths, excluding suicides
Shooting deaths decreased for a fourth consecutive year, from nearly 17,000 in 2024 to 14,520 in 2025. This year’s total is lower than any year since 2015 — marking a decrease from prepandemic levels. The figures, compiled by the nonprofit Gun Violence Archive, include murders, accidental shootings, and homicides deemed legally justified. GVA does not track suicides, which account for more than half of all gun deaths. [Gun Violence Archive]
…
-5,704
The difference in shooting injuries
Shooting injuries fell to 26,101 in 2025 — down nearly 18 percent from 2024, when there were 31,805. Those figures are likely undercounts, as tracking gun injuries is challenging. The Gun Violence Archive compiles its numbers from media reports, which may not capture all incidents. Still, the data suggests a significant drop — and the lowest number of annual shooting injuries since 2014. [Gun Violence Archive]
42
The number of states where gun deaths, excluding suicides, declined
The vast majority of states and the District of Columbia had fewer gun deaths, excluding suicides, in 2025 compared to the year before. South Dakota, Maine, Connecticut, and Hawaii saw the largest decreases. However, eight states — Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, and Wyoming — had more gun deaths. Wyoming endured the largest increase at 32 percent. [Gun Violence Archive]
California and Rhode Island being on that list are interesting. It should be noted that most of the pro-gun states on that list are lightly populated, so even a modest increase in “gun deaths” will be reflected as much more significant on a per capita basis.
But California is the most populous state in the union. They don’t get that excuse, and despite the plethora of gun control laws on the books, they saw shooting deaths increase.
Fascinating.
-19 percent
The decrease in mass shootings
This year continued a trend of decreasing mass shootings, defined as incidents in which at least four people were shot, excluding the shooter. There were 406 mass shootings in 2025, down from 504 in 2024 and 41 percent below the record set in 2021. Still, this year’s mass shootings killed 357 people and injured at least 1,835 others. [Gun Violence Archive]
Now, the Gun Violence Archive’s numbers for mass shootings are bogus from the jump. We all know how they calculate those numbers in order to specifically make the problem worse.
And yet, even by that expanded metric, we’re seeing a nearly 20 percent drop in so-called mass shootings.
That’s significant by anyone’s estimation, just as the 14 percent drop in shooting deaths is. These are fantastic numbers, but remember how The Trace opened things up? They had to try to make it like things are still so awful because, if they’re not, they lose their entire purpose for existing.
The downtick has been ongoing since the Bruen decision was handed down in 2023. Since then, and despite the claims of the alarmists, we’ve seen this downturn in violent crime rates throughout the nation.
We know The Trace would never acknowledge this. Instead, they do like they did here, try to downplay the difference by pretending the problem is still incredibly massive, all so they can justify the next bit of gun control nonsense they intend to publish.
Because it’s always anti-gun.
The truth is that there’s absolutely no way that every gun story out there should be negative. Few things are that universally bad, especially when it’s something that people can choose to use or not use. Cars have killed untold millions, but they also let people escape disaster zones and get people to emergency medical care, for example.
And The Trace has never, to my knowledge, run a story that was actually close to being thought of as pro-gun.
So, they downplay the good because if people aren’t terrified, they won’t be tricked into supporting gun control. It’s just that simple.
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