Murders Down, Self-Defense Shootings Up in Las Vegas

Like most U.S. cities at the moment, violent crime stats, including homicides, are trending in the right direction. According to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, there’ve been 47 homicides in 2025 as of Tuesday, compared to 67 this time last year. That’s a significant drop, but authorities also say a number of those homicides have been ruled justifiable acts of self defense, which means the decline is even greater than it first appears. 

The latest self-defense shooting happened early Tuesday morning, during what apparently started out as what police describe as a “domestic disturbance.” 

At some point, another man in the unit became involved. Officers arrived to find two men suffering from gunshot wounds. Both were taken to a hospital, where one was pronounced dead. The other man’s condition was not provided.

Sources tell News 3, the man killed was initially in the fight with a woman. The other man stepped in to help and was shot, according to sources. The man shot was able to wrestle away the gun and shoot the other man, who died.

The relationships among the three have not been shared by the police. 

The case is being submitted to the District Attorney’s office for self-defense review, according to a department spokesperson.

Though the case will be reviewed by the Clark County D.A., based on the investigation by police this was a self-evident case of self-defense. Would anyone argue you don’t have a reasonable belief of death or great bodily injury if you’ve already been shot?

This is the 13th justified homicide incident in Las Vegas this year, according to the LVMPD. That’s about 27% of the total number of homicides reported to date, which is slightly higher than last year. In 2024, police reported that 27 of 113 homicides were justified uses of lethal force, or about 24% of all homicides. In terms of raw numbers, though, at this rate Las Vegas would end the year with fewer defensive gun uses than we saw in 2024. 

If violent crime is trending down, it stands to reason that DGUs may be trending down as well. With fewer violent crimes being committed, there are fewer situations where a firearm is used to defend a life. 

That doesn’t negate the need to be prepared, though. While violent crime is trending in the right direction, plenty of predators are still out there looking for their next victim. In this case one of the perpetrator’s victims was able to get ahold of the pistol and use it to defend himself, but you can’t count on being able to wrest a gun away from a bad guy. It’s a much better idea to already be carrying a firearm of your own; one you’ve trained with and are comfortable both carrying and using, and one that’s hopefully secured on your person until you need to draw it in self-defense. 

According to crime analyst Jeff Asher, homicides across the United States are on pace to be at the lowest levels since the late 1960s, while the per capita rate of property crimes could be the lowest ever recorded in the country. That is incredibly good news (as well as the exact opposite of what gun control activists predicted with the demise of “may-issue” concealed carry laws and the re-election of President Trump). Still, with an estimated rate of 335 violent crimes per 100,000 people, there are hundreds of reasons to exercise our right to keep and bear arms in self-defense… and to work as hard as we can to ensure that right is as robust as possible. 

Editor’s Note: Self-defense is a human right, and one the anti-gunners want to strip from us. 

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