Ripp,

From the NSW Bureau of Crime statistics (Dec 2014).

Quarterly data from the bureau, released today, showed all categories of major crime had either remained stable or fallen in frequency for the second quarter in a row.

Those categories include murder, assault and theft.

The bureau found the offence of "shoot with intent other than to murder" was down by 35.7 per cent over the two years to September 2014.

The crime of unlawfully discharging a firearm dropped by 23.6 per cent over the same period.

Bureau director Don Weatherburn said ongoing media coverage of shooting offences was contributing to public perceptions of gun crime.

"There's no question that the number [of shooting offences] has gone down significantly but they're still in the news all the time," Dr Weatherburn said.

"It wouldn't matter if they dropped even further, they'd still be featuring in the news because they're highly newsworthy."

There was evidence that both law enforcement and social factors were helping to push crime rates down across the board, he said.

"We know, for example, that there's been a big increase in the likelihood of being caught for these offences and there's also been a big increase in the likelihood of going to jail if you're convicted," he said.

"We've got much lower rates of long-term unemployment among young people than we had 10 years ago.