SPRINGFIELD — Law enforcement is revealing the staggering number of illegal guns they’ve removed in continued efforts to keep people safe.
The seizure of illegal firearms is happening thousands of times a year in the Miami Valley.
Last year the Dayton Police Department alone seized 1,041 guns either used in crimes or carried by someone not legally allowed to have them. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s seized 431 firearms and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office seized 88 illegal firearms in 2023 as well.
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These illegally obtained firearms have been used in recent crimes in the Miami Valley, like in Montgomery County on Feb. 1. It was then that Montgomery County SWAT teams and hostage negotiators moved into a Harrison Twp. apartment complex looking for a man reportedly firing shots in an apartment.
They would eventually convince the man, John Duke, Sr. to come outside peacefully. Investigators learned no one had been shot, but that Duke had been previously convicted of crimes that banned him from possessing weapons.
“He should have never had a weapon in his possession,” Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Matt Haines previously told News Center 7.
On Feb. 2, Springfield police were looking into a shooting a day later that left a man in critical condition. Officers feared the people who launched this attack probably didn’t legally possess their weapons.
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“Taking guns away from legal gun owners is not a solution, but trying to stop all the illegal guns on the street, that’s still hard,” Donald Schmidt, of Springfield, said.
Jordan Henderson told News Center 7′s Mike Campbell that, at this point, he assumes everyone he meets may be carrying a gun.
“(They’re) so accessible nowadays, so accessible. Young guys with guns, older guys with mini-guns,” Henderson said.
As for the guns seized by law enforcement, once the court case they’re associated with wraps up, they are typically destroyed.
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