Gun Laws And 2a
Portland sees significant drop in shootings in 2025, according to PPB report
Portland sees significant drop in shootings in 2025, according to PPB report
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✍️By ZRIntel Editorial Team📍Portland, Oregon
PORTLAND, Ore. (KATU) — Shooting incidents in Portland have been consistently declining since 2022, according to the Portland Police Bureau's (PPB) crime dashboard. In fact, in 2025, Portland has seen its lowest number of shooting incidents since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.
PPB has reported 525 shooting incidents this year, about 30% fewer than 2024's report of 747 incidents. Portland shooting-related homicides are also down this year, dropping from 51 incidents to 33.
"Right now, the number one thing that we got that's working is collaboration between the three branches, which are community, community service, and city politics," said Lionel Irving, the founder of Love is Stronger, a gun-violence prevention non-profit in Portland.
"We're not just trying to arrest our way out of this. We're actually trying to serve as many people as we can," he added.
Irving says it's also important to make connections with people in the community and to help people before they become perpetrators of gun violence. While it’s progress, gun violence prevention advocates say a lot more work is yet to be done. “We need to get down to the numbers that we saw in 2019, less than 400 incidents," Irving said.
Part of what has worked, according to Irving, is collaborations with government entities.
"We’ve seen a lot of intersectional collaborations between grassroots organizations, the police department, the city of Portland, and Montgomery County. Especially the Office of Violence Prevention, which has been really more intentional about who they’re distributing funds to, to make sure that the work is going to the places that it needs to be," said Irving.
Jennifer Hardnett works with four non-profits that receive city funding to address the issue of gun violence. She gave KATU her two cents on what’s working.
“I think what’s working is that I think law enforcement in Portland is a little bit more flexible to working more with grassroots organizations and being more involved in the community,” Hardnett said.
Hardnett also explained how much progress she said non-profits have made in 2025.
"Straight Way Services has helped approximately 400 families with clothing and goods. USFIRST Oregon has helped over 900 families with food and toiletries. NextG has helped over 200 families with food and gun violence interventions. Love is Stronger Gun Violence has helped approximately 1200 families with basic needs, financial assistance, and education to deter gun violence and has prevented 110 shootings in 2025 from domestic violence-related matters and 31 gang-related shootings," Hardnett claimed.
Irving highlighted the importance of non-profits working together. He said his organization collaborates with the other non-profits that receive funding from the city to maximize results.
“Each organization has different strengths. We do a lot of prevention and intervention, but there’s other organizations that can do housing support, they can do food support, they can do clothing, they can do rides. There’s a lot of work that goes into preventing violence from happening," said Irving.
PPB and the Portland Public Safety Service Area also weighed in with the following statement:
"We’re encouraged to see a significant reduction in gun violence in Portland in 2025. As of November, injury and fatal shootings are down 34.2 percent over the past 12 months. Although too many in our community continue to be impacted by gun violence, the combined efforts of the Portland Police Bureau, Portland Office of Violence Prevention, Portland Ceasefire, regional law enforcement agencies, and multiple community partners show that progress is possible.
Specific programs contributing to this year’s reduction include the work of the Portland Police Bureau’s Focused Intervention Team and Enhanced Community Safety Team, Portland Ceasefire’s collaborative, data-driven strategy, and the Office of Violence Prevention’s Safer Portland grant and Safe Blocks program.
Looking ahead to the new year, we intend to continue building on what worked in 2025 and push for further reductions in gun violence."
In general, Oregon as a whole has continued to receive positive reviews from national gun-violence prevention advocates.
“Oregon again this year received an A- minus, having the 11th strongest gun laws in the country,” said Joe Platt, Senior State Legislative Manager for Gifford's, a gun-violence prevention and advocacy group. “When you look across the country, state by state, states with stronger gun laws have fewer gun deaths.”
Platt says Oregon has taken some really important steps in recent years to address emerging threats.
“[Those steps include] banning untraceable ghost guns and banning what are called rapid fire conversion devices like clock switches, bump stocks, enforced reset triggers that allow a firearm to shoot at a rate similar to that of a machine gun,” said Platt.
As the community grapples with the complex nature of gun violence, it’s evident that concerted efforts, involving multiple stakeholders and a focus on prevention, are vital for continued improvement. This signals a shift in the approach towards addressing gun violence, moving from merely punitive measures to community-centric solutions. However, the exact long-term impact and sustainability of these efforts remain to be seen.
With Oregon achieving noteworthy reductions in gun violence, it’s crucial to remain vigilant and assess whether these community-led initiatives can sustain progress. Early reports suggest that the collaboration among various organizations presents a model worth emulating elsewhere. The implications of the state's policies could serve as a benchmark amidst the national conversation on gun control and community safety. Gun owners, advocates, and legislators alike should pay attention to what unfolds in the coming months, as the landscape of gun violence prevention continues to evolve.