The data is in: Gun homicides in Pennsylvania have dropped for the third year in a row.
In 2025, gun homicides were down 46.5% from their 2022 peak. This isn’t just a statistic, friend. Fewer parents are burying their children. Fewer friends are attending funerals. More families are whole because of our progress.
Now, we need to double down on what’s working. In 2025, 495 people died in Pennsylvania from gun homicides. That’s a 15% decline from 2024, but every preventable death is one too many. |
This incredible downward trend in gun homicides wasn’t luck. It’s the direct result of hundreds of dedicated individuals working in community violence intervention (CVI) groups like Promise Neighborhoods of the Lehigh Valley and Group Violence Intervention York. These CVI organizations stop violence before it happens, and they’re powered in large part by state funding. Governor Shapiro and legislative leaders increased CVI funding to $62 million last year after federal ARPA funding ended.
If this were any other public health issue—smoking, cancer, or road deaths, for example—permanent, dedicated resources would flood into proven solutions.
Instead, the federal government is abdicating its responsibility to keep us safe by defunding community violence prevention and survivor support programs, cutting deals with the gun lobby, and reinterpreting the law to allow more illegal guns on the streets. We need our state lawmakers to step up and accelerate the progress we’re making in Pennsylvania.
We cannot afford to lose the ground we’ve won.
Please send a message to your state representative today and tell them to fully fund community violence intervention programs. |
Let’s keep the momentum going. Thank you, Adam Garber Executive Director CeaseFirePA P.S. Pennsylvania is safer today because advocates like you refuse to give up. We’re closer than ever to our vision of making Pennsylvania one of the safest states in the nation by 2030. Thank you for being a part of this movement for lifesaving change. |
