An analysis from The Trace’s Gun Violence Data Hub underscores this dissonance. Read Next Defined and Diminished by Gun Violence Centuries of inequitable social policy have kept Black Philadelphians dying at disproportionately high rates. There were 1,294 shootings across the city in 2015; that number reached 2,269 in 2023, before falling to 1,112 in 2024. Experts advise residents and policymakers to be cautious when celebrating the overall decline in gun violence. “That was not a shooting, it’s a war zone.”George LeVines, editor of The Trace’s Gun Violence Data Hub, conducted the analysis and contributed graphics.