FBI 2025 Crime Data: Murder Rate Ties Historic Low After Record Gun Sales
The FBI’s 2025 crime data show violent crime falling at a historic pace and the murder rate reaching its lowest recorded level in 70 years. The violent-crime rate posted its largest one-year decline since FBI national estimates began in 1936, while the murder rate fell to 4.1 per 100,000—tying 1955 and 1956 for the lowest rate in the Bureau’s historical series.
Those results followed years of record firearm purchasing. They do not prove that gun ownership caused crime to fall, but they demolish the gun-control lobby’s prediction that millions of additional firearms in private hands would inevitably produce more murder.
FBI 2025 Crime Data Show a Historic Decline
On Friday, August 14th, 2026, the FBI released the 2025 Reported Crimes in the Nation figures. There should have been fireworks and celebrations in the entire 2A community. If the gun grabbers ever paid any attention to facts, they would already be wearing sackcloth and ashes and looking up recipes for crow and humble pie.
The most important of those facts is that 2025 was a blockbuster year for our side. The violent crime rate recorded its largest one-year decline since FBI national estimates began in 1936. Meanwhile, the murder rate fell to 4.1 per 100,000, tying 1955 and 1956 for the lowest rate in the FBI’s historical series.
In terms of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, 2025 tied for the lowest rate in the FBI’s historical series and recorded the fewest estimated murders since 1968, when the U.S. population was roughly 40% smaller.
Gun control addicts have spent the last six years milking the 2020 spike driven by COVID-19 and civil unrest. It supported their long-running claims about “epidemics of gun violence.” Last year, that cow went dry. By their nature, spikes are transitory. In 2025, violent crime and murder rates dropped 16% and 38%, respectively, from their 2020 levels. In addition, a state’s gun control laws don’t seem to have an impact on spikes.
This isn’t to say another spike won’t ever happen. But it is to say violent crime rates have generally declined since their early-1990s peak, notwithstanding temporary reversals such as the pandemic-era surge.
Record Gun Sales Did Not Produce a Bloodbath
Another bitter pill for gun control fans amidst all of this is the years of record gun sales, beginning with the all-time monthly sales record set in March 2020. Millions of men and women of all races and ethnicities joined the ranks of gun owners.
These guns are saving lives. In recent years, the number of justifiable homicides committed by citizens has outnumbered those committed by law enforcement.
Millions of Americans purchased firearms, the murder rate subsequently fell to a historic low, and the gun-control lobby’s promised bloodbath never arrived.
The 2025 violent-crime rate was the lowest since 1968 and approximately 57% below its 1991 peak. Rape fell 7.6%, robbery fell 18.5%, and aggravated assault declined 7.2%.
As has been said before, there is no epidemic of actual gun violence, just a propaganda-driven effort to deceive the public with inflated numbers.
The Everytowns, Giffords, and Bradys of the world treat all firearm-related injuries and fatalities as if they were all the same. They’re like a physician deciding lymphoma and lupus are both diseases beginning with “L,” so they are the same and the physician treats them with the same procedures and pharmaceuticals.
It’s malpractice in both examples. We may not be able to sue the gun control gang, but we can definitely shame them in the limited time before the midterm elections.
About Bill Cawthon
Bill Cawthon first became a gun owner 55 years ago. He has been an active advocate for Americans’ civil liberties for more than a decade. He is the information director for the Second Amendment Society of Texas.