Gun violence incidents are declining in Lansing.
That’s according to data from the city and Advance Peace, a national nonprofit working to end cyclical gun violence in cities.
In 2025, there were a total of 46 shooting incidents recorded from January through November in Lansing. The previous year, there were a total of 64 shootings.
Advance Peace began its Lansing operations in October 2022. The year before, there were 23 fatal shootings in the city. In 2025, that number dropped to seven – a 70% decline in four years, according to Ingham County Prosecutor's Office spokesperson Scott Hughes.
Other related crimes like carrying a concealed weapon are also down.
Hughes said in a statement that there were no fatal shootings in Lansing during December, but the Prosecutor’s Office doesn’t receive reports on every non-fatal shooting. Advance Peace’s data is currently updated through November.
Paul Elam is the Chief Strategy Officer at the Michigan Public Health Institute and works with Advance Peace.
He said the nonprofit is contributing to the declining violence by engaging with the dozens of Lansing residents convicted of gun crimes.
“We're able to determine that they're not being arrested, they're not being incarcerated, they're not being charged with new offenses related to gun violence,” Elam said. “We see them weekly, and we can observe their behaviors based on our staff interactions and engagement.”
Elam said other measures – like Ingham County adopting a youth gun court and the Lansing mayor launching Lansing 360 – are also helping.
“If we do our best to keep our finger on the pulse engaged collectively by deploying multiple strategies, like Advance Peace, Lansing 360, a weapons court and conversations with providers in our community,” Elam said, “we know where the threat is and we can mitigate it.”
Advance Peace is working to break the cycle of violence by providing support and resources for those who are victimized by and perpetuating violent behavior – such as when Elam connected two people who tried killing each other with mentors.
He said those mentors were able to take the pair out of the city, away from the pressure, and have a conversation.
“The next time I saw these two young men, they were traveling and spending the night in the same hotel,” Elam said. “They were using social media to send messages to their peers that, you know, we have made some mistakes. We made some bad decisions. We didn't know the full picture. We need to stop living this lifestyle.”
Lansing’s decreasing gun violence echoes both statewide and national trends.
