Challenges remain, but the decline in gun violence is reason to celebrate | Editorial

In a daily news cycle dominated by grievance, anger, wars, and despair, many positive developments often get overlooked. The stock market is hitting record highs, wages are up, inflation is cooling, and gas prices are falling.

In Philadelphia, perhaps the most welcome and overlooked news has been the recent drop in violent crime. After three years of record gun violence, shootings have plunged this year to levels not seen in nearly two decades, according to an Inquirer analysis of police statistics.

In some of the most violent neighborhoods around North Philadelphia, the number of shootings through the first five months of this year has dropped by 57% compared with the same period in 2022. In Kensington, shootings are down more than 70% compared with two years ago, The Inquirer’s analysis showed.

Overall, the number of homicides across the city has dropped by nearly 40% this year compared with 2023. No one can pinpoint why gun violence has decreased so much, but the surge in shootings coincided with the pandemic.

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To be sure, gun violence often increases during the summer months, so the trend could slow or reverse. But shootings began decreasing last year across the country, and in Philadelphia, where they were down 22%.

The arrival of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel in January provided a renewed focus on combating gun violence. The Parker administration has made a concerted effort to address homelessness, addiction, and drug sales in Kensington. The city has also begun a broader push to clean every neighborhood, block by block, this summer.

Whether the efforts to reduce crime and clean the streets can be sustained remains to be seen, and other challenges still exist: Police staffing is low and overall arrests remain down, while gun sales and the city’s poverty rate remain stubbornly high.

Indeed, lasting and generational change will only come if the city can bolster the quality of public schools and reduce taxes in order to attract more jobs and investment.

But the good news is Philadelphia is moving in the right direction when it comes to reducing gun violence.

Don’t tell that to Republican lawmakers who have long used racially coded messaging to rail against Democratic officials and crime in Philadelphia and other big cities that have large Black and brown populations.

Last month, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, who was deeply involved in the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, held a hearing in Philadelphia just to criticize District Attorney Larry Krasner for being soft on crime. Meanwhile, Republicans in Harrisburg tried to impeach Krasner for lawlessness in Philadelphia.

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Krasner has many weaknesses, but the GOP is more interested in putting on a political show than in addressing gun violence. Jordan has voted against many gun safety measures, while Republicans in Harrisburg have blocked gun reform measures for years.

If anything, the GOP has become an enabler of gun violence.

Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president and a convicted felon, bragged that he “did nothing” about guns when he was in the Oval Office. At the same time, Trump often uses false claims about crime and big cities.

Trump will likely spread similar lies when he visits Philadelphia on Saturday. But he will find a city where gun violence is plummeting.

That is news worth celebrating.