But no matter how much they might loathe our right to keep and bear arms, they have to admit that there’s been improvement. But then they slip right back into doom-and-gloom mode.

The United States may have moved past the devastating surge of gun violence sparked by the pandemic, with preliminary data suggesting that homicides in 2023 declined by a record amount. Gun injuries have also dropped, and a growing list of states now have tighter laws on gun sales, which are at a four-year low.

Still, the problem is far from over. The decline in homicides is uneven across the country, and 2023 has seen tens of thousands of people killed or wounded by guns. Mass shootings, while lower than the record in 2021, increased slightly year-over-year and remain well above the level endured a decade ago.

Statistics help expose the toll of gun violence, illuminating both the progress and the challenges that lie ahead. Below, we share some of the figures that captured our attention this year.

-12.9 percent

The average decrease in homicides across U.S. cities in 2023

Americans tend to think that violent crime is rising, but the reality is that in much of the country, homicides have plummeted this year. Data from more than 175 cities shows that nearly three in four experienced a year-to-date drop in homicides, with many seeing homicides cut by half or more. The vast majority of homicides are committed with guns. According to crime data analyst Jeff Asher, 2023 is likely to conclude with one of the largest — if not the largest — national declines in homicide ever recorded. [AH Datalytics]

It should be noted that this is without any real, appreciable changes to gun control laws. While the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act went into effect, there’s not really anything that was going to change much as a result of that legislation.

And yet, that is a significant decrease in the homicide rate no matter how you slice it.

The Trace also notes that “gun deaths” dropped for a second straight year. This includes all firearm-related fatalities, including suicides.

In fact, a lot of the statistics The Trace reported on seemed to be down, which is a problem for them, I’m sure.

So, they seemed to go into the old mode of failing to provide context, such as here.

6,165

The number of children and teenagers shot in 2023

Firearms surpassed motor vehicle crashes to become the leading cause of death among children and teenagers for the first time in 2020. Since the pandemic, most of these deaths have been homicides. This is in contrast to the U.S. population at large, for which suicide is the main driver of firearm death. Of the 6,165 children and teenagers under 18 who were shot in 2023, more than 1,600 died. [Gun Violence Archive]

But they don’t note if this number was up or down compared to 2022. I hunted the numbers down. The total number for 2023 is up just slightly compared to 2022.

By a whopping 13 incidents.

There were 6,152 shootings of kids or teens (under 17) in 2022. Considering that there’s been an increase in the population, it’s very likely that the rate of shootings have actually dropped slightly.

Then we have The Trace trying to paint the problem in LGBT terms

At least 30

The number of transgender and gender nonconforming people killed in 2023

Most of these homicides were committed with guns, and the majority of the victims were Black and Latinx women. Also, this total is likely an undercount, as deaths of transgender and gender nonconforming people often go unreported or misreported because the victims may be misgendered or deadnamed by law enforcement, media reports, or next of kin. [Human Rights Campaign]

However, what they don’t note is how many of these were involved in criminal activity in the first place? See, they present statistics like these to make it seem like these are hate crimes, but when you look at some of these cases, that’s not remotely true.

For example, at least one was killed in a hit-and-run car accident.

Another was shot and killed by police after firing at police in Atlanta.

Still another was the victim of a murder-suicide by someone described by the media as an “intimate partner.”

In other words, The Trace is pushing the same crap the Human Rights Campaign is pushing and pretending that any incident that happens to a trans person is a hate crime.

Yet when you look at that number, even if it’s a slight undercount, 30 people in a nation of over 330 million folks is a statistical drop in the bucket. Especially when most of these fatalities aren’t hate crimes but are homicides spurred on by more pedestrian motives.

Yet this is what we’re going to see today and for the weeks to come. It’s a new year but The Trace and people like them are pushing the same old nonsense.