As gun control advocates continue to push for numerous infringements on our Second Amendment rights, you would likely think that we're at some kind of peak in mass killings. After all, isn't that what they cite as the reason they need to ban those evil, no-good, very bad so-called assault weapons?
Sure, crime is down across the board, but mass shootings are something different, aren't they? They're a whole other ball of wax that doesn't necessarily reflect general criminality, right?
Well, maybe, but maybe not.
What we do know is that the number of mass murders, particularly with a firearm, is down in 2025.... a trend that, as Cam pointed out last week, is barely making a blip in the media. And when they do cover the story, outlets like the Associated Press are still putting a negative spin on the news.
The number of U.S. mass killings has fallen to its lowest level in nearly two decades, but researchers caution the decline likely reflects a return to historical norms rather than a lasting trend.
A shooting at a children’s birthday party in California last weekend that left four people dead became the 17th mass killing recorded in 2025. That figure marks the lowest annual total since 2006, according to a database maintained by the Associated Press, USA Today, and Northeastern University.
Researchers say the decline should be viewed in context. James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminologist who oversees the database, noted that crime data often fluctuates and tends to move back toward long-term averages. He described the current numbers as a “regression to the mean,” following higher-than-normal spikes in 2018 and 2019.
Fox cautioned against assuming the downturn will continue. “Will 2026 see a decline? I wouldn’t bet on it,” he said. “What goes down must also go back up.”
The database defines a mass killing as an incident in which four or more victims are killed within 24 hours, excluding the perpetrator. According to Fox, this year’s total represents roughly a 24 percent decrease compared to 2024, which itself reflected a 20 percent decrease from 2023.
I'm not sure I can completely agree with Fox's assessment here. After all, trends do sometimes go over multiple years, both good or bad, so to just assume this year is an anomaly just feels like doomsaying unless there's some evidence to back it up.
And, well, there doesn't seem to be.
Yet we also need to understand that this is just one database. While it's the one the AP keeps--and it includes non-shooting mass killings in its number--it's also possible that other databases will have something different to report. Maybe that's why most of the press has been quiet.
So, I went to their favorite source, the Gun Violence Archive.
Now, I've talked a lot about the problems with the GVA's numbers, and I think they've listened, because I noticed that they now have a separate count of mass killings, presumably with a firearm, that I don't recall seeing before. Maybe I'm wrong, but if it is new, good on them. It's a start, at least.
If I'm the dork here, well...oops?
Anyway, GVA reports that both mass killings and mass shootings, by their definition, are currently down. In fact, depending on how the rest of the month goes, both will be at their lowest levels since at least 2019. Mass murders will likely end up lower than they have since the year before that, though, which is even better news.
But I will say that Fox was right that downward trends won't last forever. It's imperative that we step up our own efforts to curtail violent crimes of all kinds without infringing on people's gun rights. If we don't, the anti-gunners will, and they'll keep doing it when trends change, regardless of the reason for the change.
For now, though, despite the doom and gloom peddled by anti-gunners, things are actually doing OK.
Editor's Note: The mainstream media continues to lie about gun owners and the Second Amendment.
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