Secretary of State Shantel Krebs reports that the Trump gun slump continues in South Dakota. Her office issued 18,664 new and regular concealed-pistol permits in 2017, down from the 2016 peak of 30,029.
According to the Secretary’s data, the gunniest counties in South Dakota are Harding, Custer, and Sully, while the least secret-packing counties are Todd, Buffalo, and Oglala Lakota:
| County | Active Concealed-Weapon Permits as of 12/31/2017 | Pop (2016 est) | Permits per 100 people | |||
| Regular | Gold Card | Enhanced | Total | |||
| Aurora | 406 | 1 | 2 | 409 | 2,736 | 14.9 |
| Beadle | 2,008 | 15 | 38 | 2,061 | 18,101 | 11.4 |
| Bennett | 337 | 0 | 7 | 344 | 3,460 | 9.9 |
| Bon Homme | 774 | 2 | 18 | 794 | 6,984 | 11.4 |
| Brookings | 3,004 | 12 | 191 | 3,207 | 34,135 | 9.4 |
| Brown | 4,308 | 20 | 143 | 4,471 | 39,128 | 11.4 |
| Brule | 738 | 6 | 34 | 778 | 5,238 | 14.9 |
| Buffalo | 83 | 0 | 0 | 83 | 2,043 | 4.1 |
| Butte | 1,763 | 5 | 16 | 1,784 | 10,205 | 17.5 |
| Campbell | 269 | 0 | 2 | 271 | 1,378 | 19.7 |
| Charles Mix | 966 | 0 | 42 | 1,008 | 9,396 | 10.7 |
| Clark | 579 | 2 | 54 | 635 | 3,656 | 17.4 |
| Clay | 940 | 0 | 70 | 1,010 | 14,086 | 7.2 |
| Codington | 3,003 | 7 | 186 | 3,196 | 28,063 | 11.4 |
| Corson | 299 | 2 | 2 | 303 | 4,132 | 7.3 |
| Custer | 2,074 | 4 | 83 | 2,161 | 8,596 | 25.1 |
| Davison | 2,225 | 6 | 44 | 2,275 | 19,903 | 11.4 |
| Day | 725 | 2 | 28 | 755 | 5,571 | 13.6 |
| Deuel | 580 | 1 | 29 | 610 | 4,231 | 14.4 |
| Dewey | 423 | 1 | 0 | 424 | 5,742 | 7.4 |
| Douglas | 396 | 1 | 8 | 405 | 2,932 | 13.8 |
| Edmunds | 609 | 2 | 8 | 619 | 3,952 | 15.7 |
| Fall River | 1,261 | 1 | 37 | 1,299 | 6,849 | 19.0 |
| Faulk | 358 | 0 | 2 | 360 | 2,354 | 15.3 |
| Grant | 851 | 0 | 40 | 891 | 7,148 | 12.5 |
| Gregory | 623 | 2 | 55 | 680 | 4,171 | 16.3 |
| Haakon | 334 | 1 | 3 | 338 | 1,892 | 17.9 |
| Hamlin | 873 | 2 | 39 | 914 | 6,028 | 15.2 |
| Hand | 601 | 2 | 9 | 612 | 3,319 | 18.4 |
| Hanson | 418 | 3 | 25 | 446 | 3,374 | 13.2 |
| Harding | 376 | 1 | 2 | 379 | 1,278 | 29.7 |
| Hughes | 2,106 | 8 | 95 | 2,209 | 17,600 | 12.6 |
| Hutchinson | 784 | 0 | 13 | 797 | 7,368 | 10.8 |
| Hyde | 247 | 0 | 3 | 250 | 1,352 | 18.5 |
| Jackson | 278 | 1 | 1 | 280 | 3,326 | 8.4 |
| Jerauld | 255 | 1 | 4 | 260 | 2,004 | 13.0 |
| Jones | 162 | 0 | 14 | 176 | 927 | 19.0 |
| Kingsbury | 803 | 1 | 11 | 815 | 5,001 | 16.3 |
| Lake | 1,249 | 9 | 68 | 1,326 | 12,909 | 10.3 |
| Lawrence | 3,588 | 21 | 63 | 3,672 | 25,281 | 14.5 |
| Lincoln | 5,867 | 5 | 276 | 6,148 | 54,469 | 11.3 |
| Lyman | 452 | 1 | 4 | 457 | 3,894 | 11.7 |
| Marshall | 499 | 4 | 16 | 519 | 4,801 | 10.8 |
| McCook | 778 | 1 | 9 | 788 | 5,625 | 14.0 |
| McPherson | 316 | 0 | 6 | 322 | 2,438 | 13.2 |
| Meade | 4,996 | 7 | 90 | 5,093 | 27,693 | 18.4 |
| Mellette | 179 | 0 | 1 | 180 | 2,102 | 8.6 |
| Miner | 285 | 0 | 1 | 286 | 2,281 | 12.5 |
| Minnehaha | 14,730 | 29 | 714 | 15,473 | 187,318 | 8.3 |
| Moody | 681 | 0 | 55 | 736 | 6,505 | 11.3 |
| Oglala Lakota | 437 | 1 | 14 | 452 | 14,415 | 3.1 |
| Pennington | 14,710 | 16 | 288 | 15,014 | 109,372 | 13.7 |
| Perkins | 584 | 1 | 1 | 586 | 2,983 | 19.6 |
| Potter | 393 | 0 | 0 | 393 | 2,299 | 17.1 |
| Roberts | 776 | 5 | 47 | 828 | 10,255 | 8.1 |
| Sanborn | 399 | 2 | 2 | 403 | 2,396 | 16.8 |
| Spink | 887 | 10 | 25 | 922 | 6,420 | 14.4 |
| Stanley | 485 | 0 | 9 | 494 | 2,993 | 16.5 |
| Sully | 304 | 0 | 15 | 319 | 1,421 | 22.4 |
| Todd | 427 | 9 | 10 | 446 | 10,155 | 4.4 |
| Tripp | 996 | 4 | 32 | 1,032 | 5,492 | 18.8 |
| Turner | 1,148 | 1 | 28 | 1,177 | 8,317 | 14.2 |
| Union | 2,041 | 1 | 85 | 2,127 | 14,934 | 14.2 |
| Walworth | 747 | 1 | 4 | 752 | 5,610 | 13.4 |
| Yankton | 2,178 | 4 | 65 | 2,247 | 22,616 | 9.9 |
| Ziebach | 226 | 0 | 1 | 227 | 2,801 | 8.1 |
| Statewide Total | 97,197 | 244 | 3,287 | 100,728 | 865,454 | 11.6 |
Among our ten most populous counties, the most pistol-packingest are Meade, Lawrence, and Pennington, all in the Black Hills metroplex. Minnehahanians are the least likely of our “urbanites” to hide guns on their persons, with 8.3 permits per 100 residents, while 11.3 out of every 100 of their supposedly safer suburbanite neighbors in Lincoln carry concealed. Here in Brown County, we’re about as nervous as our Lincoln counterparts at 11.4 per 100, just a snudge below the state average of 11.6.
The twelve most populous counties have just over two thirds of South Dakota’s population. Those somewhat urban centers have a concealed-carry permit rate of 11.1 per 100 residents. In the other 54 counties, the CCP rate is 12.7.
Funny—I thought country living was supposed to make folks feel safer.
What is a “gold card” or “enhanced” permit?
Nick, Shantel has the specs on enhanced and gold permits here:
http://sdsos.gov/general-services/concealed-pistol-permits/default.aspx
Everyone in Todd, Buffalo and Oglala Lakota Counties has a pistol, and they carry when they feel like it. They just don’t bother with the stupid permits.
I have a permit just because I can. Don’t feel the need to carry though.
I think that the good folks in Todd, Buffalo and Oglala Lakota Counties have Platinum cards. This card overrides all other cards including the jokers who scared people into buying into this crap in the first place.
Oh, those anarchists on the reservation. Libertarians need to do some registration and GOTV there.
Is this the natural result to two things:
1) Saturation – isn’t there a point after years of record highs the “market” has to settle?
2) No “enemy” of the 2nd Amendment for the NRA to fear monger against to drive the “market?” Supportive executive and judicial branches mean less clamoring for permits.
Gun sales are also tracking lower rates since the Trump election.
I doubt that all Indians on the reservations hide their guns, at least the ones I know don’t, but there are probably a significant number of those that do.
Bob Newland is right, there are quite a few tribal members that don’t comply with state gun laws or state laws in general.
Most likely the permit holders on the reservation are white farmers and ranchers.
The law abiding bastards.
good to know one in 8 south Dakota residents are carrying. 210,000 South Dakotans are under twenty. So really, figure ONE in SIX adults you run into everyday are carrying.
I can see why Liz May (R.) ect want to carry in the state house.
Ms. leslie, 1 in 8 are carrying legally. Probably 4 of 8 are really carrying. Ms. May is not as worrisome as that 16 year old kid behind you in line at McDonalds who is grown anxious at the wait.
Good point about the adult population, Leslie. Lots of Nervous Nellies out there.
Something else to consider about the adult population is that demographic information indicates all counties do not have the same proportion of adult residents and children. Sully and Harding have a much higher average age than Native majority counties like Oglala Lakota.