Gun Control Outlet ‘The Trace’ Admits: Firearm Sales Up, Shootings Down

Gun control outlet The Trace admitted “a sharp drop in shootings” at a time when firearm sales are rising.

In a column dated July 15, 2026, The Trace noted: “Shooting deaths and injuries remain at historic lows in the United States, continuing the trend seen in Q1 and in recent years.”

The writer observed that shooting deaths and shooting injuries are at their “lowest number since 2015.”

These admissions are even more profound when one considers that The Trace relies on Gun Violence Archive (GVA) data for their numbers. Breitbart News has repeatedly noted that GVA’s numbers, particularly as related to “mass shootings,” are elevated, as they are based on an arbitrary redefinition of what constitutes a “mass shooting.”

GVA records a high number of “mass shootings” by counting incidents in which there are “a minimum of four victims shot, either injured or killed, not including any shooter who may also have been killed or injured in the incident,” as “mass shootings.” This approach allows drive-by shootings, double homicides, murder-suicides, triple homicides, gang violence, and even firearm-related instances in which there are zero fatalities, to be counted as mass shootings.

But even with the redefined terms that lead to higher numbers, The Trace admits that shooting deaths and injuries are at lows not seen in more than a decade.

Moreover, The Trace quotes crime data analyst Jeff Asher pointing out that the decline in shooting deaths and injuries is occurring at a time when “the country is still awash in guns. Gun sales are still at elevated levels.”