There is no disputing a troubling trend in the Rapid City area; more guns are being stolen from unlocked vehicles.

Editor’s Note:

This is a trend KOTA Territory News noticed last year:

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The recent rash of gun thefts prompted the Rapid City Police Department to crunch some numbers, with alarming results.

“We’ve noticed a few of these firearm thefts pop up as we made the transition into summer,” Brendyn Medina, RCPD community relations specialist, said. “The fact that we had several of them was alarming enough. When we sat down and started really looking at the numbers, it became shocking how many guns have been stolen from unsecured vehicles in just the past three months.”

In the last three months, 20 guns were snagged from 14 vehicles in Rapid City; 18 of those burglaries also included ammunition.

In the vast majority of these burglaries – 12 out of the 14 – the vehicles were reported to have been unlocked or didn’t show signs of forced entry.

“We want to shine the spotlight on the problem and reinforce that these easily-preventable thefts have now put 20 guns into the hands of criminals,” Medina stressed.

Police traced three guns stolen in Rapid City to a murder and police-involved shooting in Denver. While those guns were stolen from a firearms dealer, guns stolen from vehicles in Sioux Falls have turned up in Chicago, where 332 people have been reported murdered in the first sixth months of the year, most in shootings.

Bottom line, it is simple to thwart gun thefts from vehicles … lock the vehicles; make sure the guns are hidden from view or don’t leave them in the vehicle.

“We need folks to take an extra moment to secure their firearms and lock their vehicles before leaving them unattended,” Medina said. By performing these simple actions, we can significantly reduce the number of guns getting stolen in our community.”