Portland crime rates have gone down since an all-time high in 2022.

As soon as the COVID-19 pandemic hit Portland specifically, homicide rates skyrocketed from 28 to 57 in 2020, 88 in 2021, and an all-time-high of 96 in 2022. But the rate in 2023 shows a decrease from 96 to 73. Also in 2023, there was a 16% decrease in non-fatal shootings compared to 2022. It’s still a high rate compared to the past 20 years, but, nonetheless, it has gone down significantly since 2022. 

The majority of homicides are a result of firearm misuse. In 2023, 61 of the 73 homicides included a firearm. The ability to own a gun in Oregon is not as restrictive as in some other states.  Oregon does not require gun owners to have a firearms license or permit. Oregon also has no gun registry. The only obstacle to getting a firearm in Oregon is to undergo a background check through the Firearms Instant Check System (FCIS).  96% of FCIS applications are returned in just minutes and are approved. 3% have missing information and they require a delay in approval that could take days or weeks. Only 1% of FCIS applications are denied and the most common reasons are criminal conviction for past felonies, conviction for a misdemeanor involving violence in the last four years, active arrest warrants, persons on pretrial release, or disqualified protective order on record. Oregon’s “open carry” is also legal with some restrictions that prohibits persons from carrying guns in public buildings or parks. 

86% of homicides in the US were committed by a firearm and only 31% of the population who own guns have used their guns for self-defense. The US has a gun ownership rate of 120.5 firearms per 100 persons and a gun death rate of 4.12 per 100k persons. There are more firearms in the US than the population of the country itself. Gun violence in the US is 23 times higher than in the entire European Union. 

On top of that, school shootings in the US surpasses any other country in the world with 82 major school shootings in 2023 alone. As of 2013, there have been a total of 641 school shootings in the US. In the EU there have been a total of 18 major school shootings since 1987. The US owns about 393 million of the world’s 857 million weapons. This is 46% of the total weapons in the world. 

Although there are still problems to tackle regarding crime and homicides in Portland, the beginning of a decrease is the start.

“We’re not sitting here popping champagne corks,” said Mayor Ted Wheeler. “We know we’ve got a lot of work to do.”