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Baltimore Gets Serious on Crime Control, and the Results Speak for Themselves

Monday, July 14, 2025

Baltimore Gets Serious on Crime Control, and the Results Speak for Themselves

As the mid-year mark of 2025 hits, a promising report on crime trends has come out of the City of Baltimore. Surprising news at first glance until you dig deeper into the policy direction the city is taking with not a single mention of gun control. Then it all makes perfect sense.

The city of Baltimore is reporting significant decreases in its midyear crime data showing a 22% decrease in homicides compared to this time last year, while nonfatal shootings were also down by 19%. The data goes on to show that shooting suspects are being arrested at higher rates, with a homicide clearance rate of 64% and a 44% clearance rate for nonfatal shootings, which is 20% above the department's 10-year average.

The City of Baltimore is crediting specific new policies for these reductions based on “qualitative and quantitative data” as cited by a Baltimore Police Department press release. While some will emphasize the city’s relatively strict gun control, that was also in place during the days of sky-high violent crime in Baltimore, when attempts to get through even one murder-free weekend were destined to fail. The difference now is smarter and stricter policing and enforcement.

Baltimore City State's Attorney Ivan Bates released an insightful statement on the direction of those new policies:

While some have criticized our office for moving beyond the policies of the previous administration, the progress we've made in reducing homicides in Baltimore tells a different story — one grounded in results, not rhetoric. By repealing ineffective non-prosecution policies, we've empowered our police officers to re-engage fully in the mission of public safety — not only as law enforcers, but as violence interrupters working proactively in our communities.

These truths about crime enforcement are certainly not new to the NRA community, as we’ve long reported on examples such as Washington, D.C. and its accidental epiphany.  Beyond the need to focus on enforcing existing laws rather than creating unconstitutional laws that only affect law-abiding citizens, there is an important need to focus work on deterring the people considered most likely to be involved with crime, specifically gun violence. See NRA-ILA’s previous alert on this topic for proven strategies for what works. Hint: It’s not layering gun control on top of gun control.

Forecasting crime is a tricky endeavor reliant on a vast amount of variables, but for certain, as more cities are confronted with facts rather than rhetoric on violent crime, it becomes undeniable that the soft-on-crime policies and anti-gun scapegoating are simply not solutions.  

Entering the second half of the year, the hope is that more failed gun control proposals fall off in favor of what is working and will work in other cities beyond Baltimore. Focusing on failed gun control models has absolutely sapped critical energy from the facts of crime control and public safety needs for far too long.  

While cities continue to work on the many pieces of the crime prevention puzzle, NRA-ILA continues to work tirelessly in every state to prioritize solutions that address real drivers of violence along with public safety policies based on facts and data, just as Baltimore appears to be doing so far to good effect in 2025.

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North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Yesterday, in Butler v. Bondi, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its statutory authority by issuing its 2024 Final Rule expanding ...

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

There have been multiple developments on the Canadian gun grab and ban in the last few days, but the most astounding has got to be a leaked bombshell recording of the Liberal Public Safety Minister, ...

Canada’s Gun Grab: Amnesty Expiration Approaches as Top Officials Sow Confusion

News  

Monday, September 22, 2025

Canada’s Gun Grab: Amnesty Expiration Approaches as Top Officials Sow Confusion

Canada’s Liberal government has consistently and misleadingly used “buyback” to describe the 2020 mandatory “assault weapon” confiscation law, in an attempt to make the scheme appear less hostile to property rights and Canada’s responsible gun ...

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Friday, October 3, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petition for certiorari in Wolford v. Lopez, a challenge to Hawaii’s law forbidding carry on private property open to the public (such as restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores) ...

Gun Controllers Rage at Everytown Over “Firearms Training,” Demand “Abstinence”

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

Gun Controllers Rage at Everytown Over “Firearms Training,” Demand “Abstinence”

A revealing article in USA Today last week reported that Everytown for Gun Safety’s new “firearms training” program, Train SMART, “met stiff opposition from [Everytown’s] own members and longtime supporters.” 

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Friday, October 3, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Yesterday, the National Rifle Association filed an amicus brief in Knife Rights, Inc. v. Bondi, urging the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas’s decision upholding the Federal ...

Open Carry Comes to Florida

News  

Monday, September 22, 2025

Open Carry Comes to Florida

On September 10, the First District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida struck down the Sunshine State’s prohibition on open carry as a violation of the Second Amendment in the case McDaniel v. Florida. ...

California Loves Gun Control, Loathes Crime Control

News  

Monday, September 29, 2025

California Loves Gun Control, Loathes Crime Control

California is always adding to its mountain of gun control laws aimed at disarming law-abiding citizens.

Pennsylvania: Another Gun Bill Fails on House Floor

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Pennsylvania: Another Gun Bill Fails on House Floor

On Tuesday, another anti-gun bill was defeated on the House floor, failing to receive approval by a 101-102 vote.    

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NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.