On January 8, 2025, officials from New Jersey gathered to celebrate record-low numbers of so-called “gun violence.” New Jersey is a state that’s historically had the most dangerous city in the country, Camden. Governor Phil Murphy, D-N.J., held a press conference in East Rutherford in conjunction with Lieutenant Governor Tahesha Way, First Assistant Attorney General Lyndsay Ruotolo, and the superintendent of New Jersey State Police Colonel Patrick J. Callahan, to go over the numbers.

“Last year, we reached that milestone, and we were able to report that the number of people shot in 2023 had been reduced to 924,” First Assistant Attorney General Lyndsay Ruotolo said during her remarks at the press event. “In 2024 the number of people shot in New Jersey was even lower, with 778 people shot. That is a 16% decrease compared to the record low we achieved in 2023.”

Ruotolo noted that of the shooting events, 152 of them resulted in fatalities. The assistant attorney general further explained that the number of fatalities went down 20%, from 191 in 2023.

Lieutenant Governor Tahesha Way took the opportunity to admonish the 2022 NYSRPA v. Bruen decision. “Moreover, while our numbers are trending in the right direction, we still have far to go to ensure everyone feels and is safe,” Way said. “The wave of mass shootings that seem to constantly be in the news reminds us of the ever present danger of gun violence made worse since the Supreme Court loosened restrictions on carrying a gun in public.”

In early 2024, the Murphy Administration discussed the record low number of shootings in 2023. In 2023, it was said that “shooting hit victims under 1,000” and that it was “the lowest number since the State of New Jersey began tracking this information in 2009.” The data had been trending down, with the following statistics provided by Murphy’s office, “The 924 people shot in 2023, a 13% decrease over 2022, built on a decrease of 25% in 2022 from 2021.”

The NYSRPA v. Bruen case was decided in June of 2022 – with 2022 being the first year the Murphy Administration observed a decline in gun violence. The day after that opinion came down from the High Court, it was announced that everyday law-abiding citizens would be eligible to apply for and receive permits to carry.

In the wake of the Bruen decision, New Jersey has seen over 50,000 permits to carry issued to citizens. New Jersey Monitor noted that applications for permits to carry increased 26 times more since 2021 when compared to the years following.

Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s office was contacted for comment. The office was asked if they thought there was a correlation between the dramatic increase in permit-to-carry holders and the drop in violent crime. Platkin was also asked if, in his opinion, permit-to-carry holders may have contributed to the drop, and if he’d say it's evident, at a minimum, that the increase in permit-to-carry holders has not negatively affected public safety in the Garden State.

Attorney General Matthew Platkin’s office said the following in their reply, “The office declines comment.”

On behalf of the New Jersey Firearms Owners Syndicate, Director of Legal Operations Joe LoPorto, JD, was skeptical of Murphy’s press event at best. LoPorto said that Murphy’s rhetoric was full of the “gaslighting we are used to hearing.” When describing Phil Murphy and his administration, LoPorto stated that “he and his administration have trampled on almost all individual, fundamental rights including free speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble, due process, and the right to keep and bear arms all while he reduced government accountability and transparency.”

“He touted a decline in certain gun violence statistics over a period when federal courts dismantled some of the administration’s most significant efforts to restrict the Second Amendment rights of New Jersey residents,” Loporto stated. He further noted that those courts’ decisions allowed “tens of thousands of New Jersey residents to obtain concealed carry permits, not previously possible in generations…All while he ignored the sharp rise in other property and violent crime statistics affecting the entire state, but most severely felt by the residents of our major cities like Newark and Paterson.”

N.J. State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick J. Callahan said during the press event that a daily task force reviews arrests from the prior day. He said there are roughly 300 arrests daily and that “ten of those 300 are violent recidivist offenders.” Callahan explained that “a group of analysts and detectives get together and in partnership with our 21 county prosecutors say ‘we believe that of these 10, eight we should argue for detention so they don't shoot anyone, or so that they don't get shot.’ And that's a huge piece of this puzzle as well.”

Callahan focused on community intervention, attributing those efforts with the drop in such criminal activity. Community intervention and the targeting of bad actors are being cited for being responsible in part for the decreases. “That targeted and technologically assisted deployment of resources combined with community engagement and law enforcement partnerships kept the number of New Jersey shooting victims at 778 in 2024,” was stated in the release.

While New Jersey officials aren’t quick to attribute the drop in shootings and crime in part to the increase in law-abiding permit to carry holders, the data may support such a claim. Violence and community intervention programs have been proven to be effective in curtailing crime, such as Operation Ceasefire in Boston in the 90’s. Whether or not these statistics are driven by the programs touted by Callahan is not known. 

Numerous data sets show an increase in gun ownership and carry has coincided with a drop in the same. Murphy, Platkin, et.al. may not want to admit it, but the over 50,000 permit to carry holders haven't been a problem in the Garden State – or more apparent, it appears they likely contribute to increasing public safety.