Law enforcement agencies seize 368 illegal firearms in South Dakota in 2023

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - The importance of keeping guns away from those who want to harm can’t be understated.

Rapid City may be safer after 368 illegal firearms were seized last year in South Dakota by federal, state, tribal, and local law enforcement.

In 2023, roughly 93 people were charged with possessing, owning, obtaining, or using those firearms illegally.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Patterson says about 80 percent of those 368 guns seized were pistols and the other 20 percent were shotguns or rifles.

Patterson added some of the guns seized were used by individuals to commit crimes such as armed robberies and theft of additional firearms.

He says it’s vital to seize weapons that are illegally possessed.

”Every firearm we seize reduces the violent crime and the drug trafficking we see in this state. And so, as we seize those firearms, as we remove them from the street, that’s one less individual who can obtain that firearm and use it for an illegal purpose,” says Patterson.

Patterson says approximately 70 to 75 of the 368 firearms seized in 2023 were found in Rapid City.

The prosecution of illegal firearms by the District of South Dakota is part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods program, aiming to bring every level of law enforcement together to minimize gun violence and violent crime in communities.

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