The Trace2%
CDC Data Shows Shooting Deaths Dropped, but Gun Suicides Hit a Record High 32%
By Jennifer Mascia21%
8/6/2026, 3:00:00 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 30 faulty reasoning types, including Post Hoc (False Cause), Confirmation Bias, and Hasty Generalization, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 21.1% saturation with 240 hits. Analysis detected 1,868 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,139 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 34.1% and a BS Rank of 32% (20,295 of 29,795 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 68.10% of the article peer group.
Fatal shootings in the United States fell for the fourth consecutive year in 2025, according to a Trace analysis of new federal data.
At least 42,348 people died of gunshot wounds last year, a 5 percent decrease from 2024 , and the lowest number in six years.
The 2025 data , published in August by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shows that the decrease in shooting deaths was driven almost entirely by a drop in gun homicides.
Meanwhile, the number of people who died by suicide with a gun rose to its highest level on record to more than 28,000 in 2025, up from 27,600 people in 2024.
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The South accounted for nearly half of U.S. gun deaths last year, while the Northeast had the fewest.
The CDC’s numbers are based on state death certificates, and the totals for 2025 are provisional, meaning they will likely change slightly before being finalized early next year.
Below, we break down the major findings from our analysis of the 2025 figures.
Overall gun deaths decreased — again
Last year’s total of 42,348 gun deaths represents a 13 percent decrease from the all-time high of nearly 49,000 gun deaths in 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic fueled a historic surge in violence.
Gun deaths have now outnumbered motor vehicle fatalities for nine straight years, with guns killing nearly 3,900 more people than car crashes in 2025.
Last year, guns were the third leading cause of injury-related death, after overdoses and falls.
Gun homicides were down for the fourth year in a row
The number of people who were intentionally killed with a gun fell 16 percent, from more than 15,000 in 2024 to about 12,850 last year.
It was the lowest single-year gun homicide tally in a dozen years.
Several factors likely contributed to the decline, experts said.
As The Trace has reported , cities like Baltimore have driven homicides to historic lows through a coordinated approach involving violence intervention, victim services, improved investigations, and sustained leadership from City Hall.
“What the folks who work on homicide reduction have done so well is investing in communities, like community violence interruption groups and hospital-based violence interruption programs,” said Allie Bond, an assistant professor at Rutgers University’s New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center.
Guns continued to kill more homicide victims than all other methods combined .
Firearms were used in 74 percent of homicides in 2025, down 2 percentage points from the year before.
Men accounted for the vast majority — 81 percent — of gun homicide victims.
Gun homicides among women decreased 10 percent between 2024 and 2025.
Just over half of gun homicide victims were Black, even though Black people account for less than 14 percent of the population.
Unintentional shootings were down almost 8 percent last year, while police shootings dropped 6 percent.
Gun suicides were up for the seventh year in a row
The CDC reported more than 28,000 gun suicides in 2025, a slight increase over the year before, when there were nearly 27,600 gun suicides.
Last year’s total is the highest on record, which goes back to 1968.
The upward trajectory stands in contrast to the overall decrease in gun violence since the height of the pandemic.
Guns were used in 57 percent of all suicides last year — the highest share in at least a quarter-century.
Guns killed more suicide victims than all other methods combined .
Men accounted for nine out of every 10 gun suicide victims last year.
The majority of gun suicide victims were white.
An effort to reduce gun suicide in rural areas has ramped up in recent years , uniting gun safety and gun rights advocates around a rare area of common ground.
But gun suicide among the country’s rural population remains stubbornly high, a trend that’s seeping into other demographics: Gun suicide increased the most among Black and Hispanic Americans, the 2025 CDC data revealed.
“We’ve seen this consistent upward trend in gun suicides for several years now,” said Cassandra Crifasi, a public health professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore who researches gun violence.
“While we bent the curve on homicides by really working to address some of the factors that are driving violence and interrupting those cycles, we haven’t done as much in a sort of concerted way to address suicide.”
“We know that in a moment of crisis, people reach for what’s available.
And the lethality of what’s available really matters,” added Crifasi, a lifelong gun owner herself.
There were regional disparities
The South accounted for nearly half of U.S. gun deaths last year, while the Northeast — with slightly more than 3,600 gun deaths — had the fewest.
Broken down by state, the highest rates of gun death were in Wyoming, Alaska, and Mississippi.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York had the lowest rates.
The highest rates of gun homicide were in Mississippi; Washington, D.C.; and Louisiana.
Gun homicide rates were lowest in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.
Wyoming had the highest rate of gun suicide, followed by Alaska and Montana.
The lowest rates of gun suicide were in Washington, D.C.; New Jersey; and Massachusetts.
Gun deaths among children d ecreased
Gun deaths among people under 18 fell 5 percent, from 2,227 in 2024 to 2,108 last year.
Still, guns remained the leading cause of death for minors, surpassing car crashes for the sixth year in a row.
Guns killed more children and teens last year than any other cause, including cancer and overdoses.
Even though overall gun deaths among young people fell, gun suicides rose 15 percent.
Crifasi said her research has found that gun suicide victims are getting younger and more diverse.
During COVID, “many more women, Black Americans, and Hispanic Americans were buying guns for the first time, which is probably translating to some of the increases we’re seeing among young people,” she said.
Most minors who use guns to harm themselves get them from the home of a family member or a friend.
“Now we have more diverse young people living in homes with guns.”
While gun sales have trended down since the pandemic, 103 million guns were purchased between 2020 and 2025 — a quarter of the estimated 400 million guns in circulation, according to The Trace’s gun sales tracker .
With that proliferation comes an elevated risk for households.
“I think we may continue to see this for a few years to come,” Crifasi said of the stubbornly high suicide rate, “if folks are not thinking about the responsibilities that come with guns in the home.”
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100%flagged-word coverageAllie Bond
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