John Hult

jhult@argusleader.com

South Dakota ranks high in gun ownership, with growing numbers of citizens buying guns and applying for concealed carry permits.

It also ranks high in unintentional shootings involving juveniles, according to a USATODAY and Associated Press analysis of accidental gun deaths and injuries. Nationwide, the data show an unintentional death from a firearm every other day from 2014-2016.

Based on the state’s population, the figures rate South Dakota’s unintentional shooting rate as the nation’s third-highest for the time period.

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The reporting found eight incidents in total in the state, with five injuries and three fatalities. One death involved a 4-year-old in Aberdeen who’d shot his uncle. Two other deaths involved teens handling firearms in Frederick and Yankton.

The victims ranged from 13 to 22 years old, with two adults. Four incidents took place in homes, three happened outdoors and one was in a car.

Gun control advocates nationwide in other states have stressed the need for stronger laws, such as mandatory gun locks at the time of sale or criminal liability for adults who leave loaded firearms accessible to children.

Chronicle of agony: Gun accidents kill at least 1 kid every other day

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said his approach to gun safety and children ought to focus on voluntary educational programs and free gun locks through programs like the U.S. Attorney’s Project Safe Neighborhoods.

“I feel the better approach is to incentivize gun safety, rather than criminalize,” Jackley said. “I think it’s more effective, and it avoids the reality that many of these laws either encroach upon or violate the Second Amendment.”

In cases involving adults who leave loaded firearms accessible to children, Jackley said, civil courts can determine negligence. In extreme cases – those involving methamphetamine use, for example – there are felony abuse and neglect laws that can apply.

”We have the tools available that would fit,” Jackley said.

Minnehaha County Sheriff Mike Milstead says his office has given away about 5,000 cable-style gun locks to those who apply for concealed carry permits and to others at public events.

Milstead also encourages gun owners to use safes, many of which have separate locked areas for ammunition and weapons.

“We encourage people to keep their guns away from the curious hands of children,” Milstead said.

Definitive figures for state-by-state gun ownership in the U.S. are difficult to find, but South Dakota ranks high in concealed carry permits, according to some studies. A 2015 study from the pro-gun Crime Research Prevention Center put South Dakota’s concealed carry-issuance rate at second-highest in the U.S.

Why we carry: Gun owners want to defend themselves

Milstead’s issued 12,000 permits in his county alone.

“It’s a heritage in our state,” Milstead said. “And now, more and more people are getting concealed carry permits for a variety of reasons, including protection.”

National group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America has not focused its efforts on legislation South Dakota, according to the state’s Chapter Leader Julie Parker of Sioux Falls.

It urges gun owners to keep firearms in the home unloaded and locked away in a separate location from ammunition through its Be SMART gun safety program.

The program’s name is an acronym for “Secure all guns, Model responsible behavior, Ask about unsecured guns in other homes, Recognize the risk of suicide and Tell your peers” about gun safety.

In states like South Dakota where new gun laws would face an uphill fight, Parker said, education on securing firearms is the group's focus.

“Our program was developed in the absence of legislation,” Parker said. “If we’re not going to have legislation, we’re going to educate the public.”

As many as 70 percent of the unintended firearm incidents tracked could have been prevented if the guns had been stored properly, she said.

“This isn’t really about gun ownership or who should or shouldn’t have a gun,” Parker said. “It’s about keeping our kids safe.

Milstead agrees that guns need to be secure, but he also worries that keeping guns and ammunition in separate locations could cause trouble for those who keep firearms for self-defense.

“It’s not easy to go into another room, unlock your gun, then go into another room and get your ammo when someone’s breaking into your home,” Milstead

Even so, Milstead says gun safety needs to be a priority, especially when children are present.

Brown County Chief Deputy Tom Schmitt saw the tragic consequences play out in a rural area of Aberdeen on March 25, 2015.

Eh Thon Gar, 22, was among the adults who’d gone out for target practice with his family that day. His 4-year-old nephew was along, as well. The boy, mimicking the adults, picked up a .22-caliber rifle and fired. Gar died in the hospital seven hours later.

“That one was surrounded by family. How do you not unload the gun and put it out of reach?” Schmitt said.

Unintentional shootings in SD

An investigation from USA Today and the Associated Press on unintentional shootings involving juveniles found that available figures undercounted the incidents, sometimes by as much as a third. Eight incidents were determined to be unintentional between 2014 and 2016 in South Dakota, making the state third in the nation per capita.

Here are summaries of the South Dakota shootings included in the report

Date: April 24, 2014:

Location: 1000 block of N. LaCrosse Street, Rapid City

Description: One 16-year-old boy handed a gun to another boy of the same age during a gathering of a group of teens at an apartment in north Rapid City. The second boy was shot in the leg and injured.

Date: Dec. 6, 2014

Place: 5521 E. Arrowhead Parkway, Sioux Falls

Description: A 17-year-old boy was shot in the leg in the parking lot of Walmart in Sioux Falls. After initially reporting an attempted robbery, the boy admitted he’d shot himself accidentally with a .22-caliber handgun.

Date: Feb. 21, 2015

Location: Brown County

Description: Samuel Mark Kenser was found in his home, dead from a gunshot wound to the head from a .22-caliber handgun. Investigation from the Brown County Sheriff’s Office concluded the shooting was accidental.

Date: May 25, 2015

Location: Brown County

Description: A 4-year-old boy brought along for target practice north of Aberdeen fatally shot his 22-year-old uncle, Eh Thon Gar with a .22-caliber rifle.

Date: Oct. 17, 2015

Location: Letcher, SD

Description: A 13-year-old boy visiting from Tennessee shot himself in the hand while hunting pheasants.

Date: March 5, 2016

Location: 1000 block of East Side Drive, Yankton

Description: A 14-year-old boy shot his friend and killed his friend, Jeron Xander Picotte-Honomichl, 14, at a home near Stockman’s Livestock Market just east of Yankton. Picotte-Honomichl died from the handgun shot, which struck him in the chest.

Date: May 18, 2016

Location: 2600 block of S. Duluth Ave., Sioux Falls

Description: A 17-year-old boy was drinking with five other young with several juveniles. He was asked to leave because he had a .45-caliber handgun, but he did not. An 18-year-old woman was shot in buttocks, after which the boy fled. "By everybody's account, it was an accidental shooting," police spokesman Sam Clemens said the following day.

Date: June 9, 2016:

Location: Frederick

Description: A 13-year-old boy shot himself in the toe with a .22-caliber rifle in his home.