Gabby Giffords Offers False Choice to Anti-Violence Activists

Homicides in the United States are the lowest they’ve been since at least 1960, and according to some researchers the murder rate may actually be the lowest in 150 years. 

That should be cause for celebration, yet when former congresswoman Gabby Giffords addressed anti-violence activists at the Giffords-sponsored Community Violence Intervention Conference in Los Angeles, CA this week, the gun control activist made it sound like the United States was in the grips of a crime wave. 

“We are at a crossroads. We can let the shooting continue, or we can act,” said Giffords, who survived traumatic head injury from a gunshot wound. 

This is a false choice. First, is Giffords really suggesting that “we” haven’t been acting before now? And what actions does she believe could end all shootings? 

As it is, we’re seeing fewer shootings than we have in decades. The Crime Index shows violent crime is down 5.6 percent this year, which follows a 9.3 percent drop in 2025 based on preliminary statistics by the FBI. Based on the FBI’s statistics, that puts the violent crime rate in 2025 at 326 per 100,000 people. Not all of those crimes involve firearms, of course, so the rate for gun-involved violent crimes is even lower. Still, the 326 crimes per 100,000 people is the lowest recorded in the United States since 1969, and back then violent crime was rapidly rising, not falling. 

The FBI also reports that homicides fell 18.1 percent last year, with a murder rate of 4.1 per 100,000 people. That represents the largest one-year decline in homicides since the FBI started keeping track in 1960, and it’s also the lowest murder rate the agency has ever recorded. 

The Crime Index reports that, through May of this year, homicides have dropped by another 18.1 percent. If that trend holds, the U.S. homicide rate in 2026 will be 3.6 per 100,000, down about 63 percent from its peak in the early 1990s. 

This decline is taking place while a majority of states have repealed laws requiring a permit or license to carry a firearm. It’s happening just a few years after the biggest spike in gun sales in modern history. It’s estimated that about 40 million firearms were purchased in 2020 and 2021, and though sales have declined since then, we’re probably looking at around 90 million firearm transfers since 2020. Not all of those are new gun purchases, but it’s still fair to say that after an unprecedented influx of privately owned guns, the nation’s violent crime and homicide rates have fallen to levels not seen in decades.

Many violence prevention advocates give major credit to the influx of cash sent to states and local communities for “gun violence prevention” efforts. In some cases, they may be right. I’ve long said that I don’t have an issue with community violence prevention efforts, so long as they’re transparently operated and accountable to officials. In fact, if Giffords was solely focused on what it calls “non-punitive, community-led strategies that are designed to interrupt the transmission of violence by engaging those at highest risk through the provision of individually tailored support services,” I might even kick in a couple of bucks to the group. 

Sadly, Giffords Center for Violence Intervention is just one small part of the Giffords empire, which also includes efforts to put punitive laws on the books and defend them in court. 

I don’t think that “we” are at a crossroads, but maybe Giffords is. The organization can continue spending millions of dollars each year trying to criminalize the exercise of a fundamental civil right, or it can choose to dedicate itself solely to promoting those non-punitive practices like violence interruption that don’t involve putting people in prison for possessing a firearm without a license or owning a “large capacity” magazine or so-called assault weapon. It can fully engage those at highest risk of committing violent crimes, or it can continue targeting lawful gun owners at the same time.

This is probably not a difficult choice for Gabby Giffords, who told Time magazine a few years ago that her goal is “no more guns.” I can’t imagine the organization she founded pivoting to solely focus on community-led violence intervention programs, though I’d love to see it. The animosity towards lawful gun ownership is too important to Giffords’ mission to give it up, even as violent crime and murders are plunging while a million guns or more are sold each month.  

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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