New FBI data show violent crime fell at a historic rate in 2025, undercutting attempts to portray America as facing an ever-worsening violent-crime crisis requiring more restrictions on law-abiding gun owners.
The FBI’s final numbers are in.
The national violent crime rate dropped 9.7% in 2025, marking the largest year-to-year decline since the FBI began estimating national crime trends in 1936.
The decline reached every major category.
Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter fell 18.1%. Robbery dropped 18.5%. Rape declined 7.6%, while aggravated assault fell 7.2%.
And one statistic stands out above the rest.
Murder Rate Hits Historic Low
The FBI estimates America’s murder rate fell to 4.1 per 100,000 people in 2025 — tying 1955 and 1956 for the lowest murder rate in the Bureau’s national estimates.
More than 17,000 law enforcement agencies participated in the FBI’s reporting program, covering approximately 96.2% of the U.S. population.
Those numbers deserve attention as politicians continue pushing new restrictions on the Second Amendment in the name of public safety.
“The anti-gun lobby constantly tries to convince Americans that restricting law-abiding gun owners is the answer to violent crime,” said Texas Gun Rights President Chris McNutt. “But rights don’t disappear because politicians invoke public safety. Texans should demand policies that target violent criminals, not peaceful citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights.”
Don’t Blame Gun Owners for Violent Crime
The FBI statistics don’t establish what caused the dramatic decline.
Crime trends are complicated, and national statistics cannot tell us what is happening in every Texas city or community.
But the numbers do establish an important baseline.
Violent crime fell sharply. Murder fell sharply. Robbery fell sharply. And the national murder rate reached a historic low.
That matters when politicians invoke violent crime to demand waiting periods, firearm bans, registration schemes, or other restrictions on people who have committed no crime.
A constitutional right should not depend on whatever crime narrative is politically convenient at the moment.
Texas Should Reject the Gun-Control Narrative
More than 1.1 million violent offenses were still estimated nationwide in 2025. Serious crime remains a real problem, and violent criminals should be held accountable.
But targeting peaceful gun owners is not a substitute for targeting criminals.
The FBI’s latest numbers provide no justification for treating millions of law-abiding Americans exercising a constitutional right as the problem.
Texas Gun Rights will continue fighting attempts to use fear of violent crime as an excuse to strip law-abiding Texans of their Second Amendment rights.
