South Dakota
Gun-industry companies and groups give $2 million to help build state-owned shooting range
10% of money to build the range comes from gun-industry companies and organizations
A list of donors to a state-owned shooting range under construction north of Rapid City includes $2 million from gun-industry companies or organizations.
The $20 million, 400-acre complex will be one of the largest public shooting ranges in the nation when it opens this fall, according to the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish & Parks. The complex will host recreational shooters, safety programs, marksmanship competitions and law enforcement training. It will include rifle, pistol, shotgun and archery ranges.
About $6 million of the project’s funding has been given or pledged by donors. The rest is from the state’s Future Fund for economic development.
The department announced last month in a news release that the range will be named the Pete Lien & Sons Shooting Sports Complex, but the release did not disclose the amount of the company’s donation, or include a full list of donations.
“We are extremely pleased with all of the support and excitement for the shooting sports complex and our Second Amendment rights in South Dakota,” Department Secretary Kevin Robling said in the press release.
Concerns over donations to SD gun range
South Dakota Searchlight requested a list of donors with names and amounts. The department’s initial response said only that donors gave more than $6 million, including $2 million for naming rights from Pete Lien & Sons, a mining, concrete and construction aggregate company based in Rapid City.
When Searchlight asked again for a full list of donors, a spokesman for the department directed the request to the state’s online records request portal. Searchlight submitted a letter including a legal argument that the donation list is a public record. A lawyer for the department provided the list 15 days later.
Three donors on the list who gave or pledged a combined $6,100 are referenced only as “private donation”; Searchlight asked for those names or a justification for withholding them. The department’s lawyer replied that the names are covered by exceptions in the state open records law to protect personal privacy and to prevent the “unreasonable release of personal information.”
The project has been controversial with state legislators, who refused to fund it. Some were angered last year when they learned that then-Gov. Kristi Noem gave the project $13.5 million from the governor-controlled Future Fund for economic development.
The donations from the gun industry are another concern for Rep. Erik Muckey, D-Sioux Falls. He said that as a gun owner and hunter himself, he wants to ensure South Dakota’s sporting and hunting traditions continue. But he is uneasy about the Legislature being successfully lobbied for fewer restrictions on firearms while some of the entities connected to those lobbyists — including the National Rifle Association — are helping to fund a state-owned shooting range.
“Private funding for state-owned facilities is not a new concept; in fact, several examples of public-private partnerships make this state better each day, like the combination of public and private funds to support the Build Dakota scholarship,” Muckey said, referencing a full-tuition program for technical college students. “But this case should give South Dakotans pause.”
The Republican-dominated Legislature routinely considers and passes pro-gun legislation. Last winter, lawmakers and Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden lifted concealed-handgun bans on college campuses and in bars.
The shooting-range donor list includes $6.3 million from 43 sources, with nearly half of the money in hand and the rest pledged. Donations from the gun industry account for nearly one-third of the total:
- Smith & Wesson, a Tennessee-based gun manufacturer, donated $150,000 and pledged $600,000, for a total of $750,000.
- Glock, an Austrian gun manufacturer, donated $150,000 and pledged $600,000, for a total of $750,000.
- Aimpoint, a Swedish gun optics manufacturer that bills itself as the inventor of the red dot sight, donated $50,000 and pledged $200,000, for a total of $250,000.
- Luth-AR, a Minnesota company that sells custom stocks and other components for AR-15 rifles, donated $25,000 and pledged $100,000, for a total of $125,000.
- The National Rifle Association donated $50,000.
- Federal Ammunition, a Minnesota ammo manufacturer, donated $25,000.
- H-S Precision, a Rapid City weapons parts manufacturer, donated $5,000 and pledged $20,000, for a total of $25,000.
- Mack Bros, a Sturgis company that manufactures suppressors (silencers) and other gun components, donated $3,000.
- First Stop Gun Shop in Rapid City donated $3,000.
- Lane Silencers, a Rapid City manufacturer, donated $3,000.
- Sturgis Guns, a seller of firearms and accessories, donated $3,000.
Some other donations came from companies that sell shooting-related accessories, but not guns or gun parts. Donations also came from various other individuals, businesses and hunting and conservation groups.
Some legislators on both sides of the political aisle remain upset about Noem’s unilateral decision to provide state funding for the project.
“Unfortunately, her actions have severely damaged trust in otherwise effective institutions, which may cost much-needed projects funding and support in the future,” said Muckey.
In response, the Legislature passed and new Gov. Larry Rhoden signed into law a bill from Senate President Pro Tempore Chris Karr, R-Sioux Falls, that says Game, Fish and Parks projects over $2.5 million must receive legislative approval.
“The shooting complex is the reason I brought that bill,” Karr said. “The appropriations process was circumvented.”
House Assistant Majority Leader Marty Overweg, R-New Holland, said lawmakers feel their will was ignored.
“Now, the government has to be the one that ensures this shooting range continues to run,” he said. “We voted no, but now we have to run it. Without any choice.”
Robling, the head of GF&P, said in November that the complex will require three full-time employees who will be reallocated internally, as well as seasonal staff and volunteers. Robling said the range will not be profitable and will require help from federal firearm tax revenue allocated to the department.
Department spokesperson Nick Harrington told South Dakota Searchlight recently that the shooting range will cost an estimated $355,000 annually to operate and maintain, including the three full-time employees.
Seth is editor-in-chief of South Dakota Searchlight. South Dakota Searchlight is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – Students at South Dakota Mines heard Wednesday from retired four-star general Maryanne Miller about her journey to the highest ranks of the U.S. military.
Miller is a retired four-star U.S. Air Force general. She is the only member of the Air Force Reserve ever to be promoted to this level.
She spoke about finding greatness and living a life of fulfillment. Her stories came from her time in the Air Force and as a volunteer for Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s Missionaries of Charity.
“We so much get focused on what is our next step in life, what’s the next career move, how do we make ourselves better in our career, and we forget about how do we make ourselves better as a human being,” Miller said. “Because they have to go tandem. If it’s not tandem, you’re going to get off track.”
Miller was commissioned in 1981 and rose through the ranks before becoming a four-star general in 2018. She was the only woman serving as a four-star officer in the military at the time. She retired in 2020 after serving for almost 40 years.
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South Dakota
USDA to offer distaster assistance to South Dakota agriculture producers impacted by winter storms
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture is offering financial and technical assistance to South Dakota farmers and livestock producers who may have been impacted by the recent winter storms.
“I encourage impacted producers to contact their local USDA Service Center to report losses and learn more about program options available to assist in their recovery from crop, land, infrastructure, and livestock losses and damages.” said Richard Fordyce, Production and Conservation Under Secretary.
FSA’s Emergency Conservation Program and Emergency Forest Restoration Program can assist landowners with financial assistance to restore damaged land and conservation structures or forests.
“Our staff will work one-on-one with landowners to make assessments of the damages and develop methods that focus on effective recovery of the land.” said Jessica Michalski, Acting NRCS State Conservationist in South Dakota.
For more information about the disaster assistance program, click here.
Copyright 2026 Dakota News Now. All rights reserved.
South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden, left, and Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen unveil a plaque for retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams in the Hall of Honor at the Capitol in Pierre on March 25, 2026. (Photo by Meghan O’Brien/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) — There’s a new name in the South Dakota Hall of Honor at the state Capitol building.
One-hundred-year-old South Dakota native and retired U.S. Navy Capt. E. Royce Williams was celebrated at a Wednesday ceremony where a plaque honoring him was unveiled, although Williams did not attend.
“In spite of being outnumbered and facing incredible danger, Captain Williams engaged the enemy with courage and skill,” said Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden. “Our state has always had a strong tradition of service, and Captain Williams is the very best of that tradition.”
President Donald Trump awarded Williams the Medal of Honor, the country’s highest military honor, at the State of the Union address earlier this year. The medal honors actions by Williams that had been classified for decades.
“His story was secret for over 50 years, he didn’t even want to tell his wife, but the legend grew and grew,” Trump said during the speech in February. “But tonight, at 100 years old, this brave Navy captain is finally getting the recognition he deserves.”
On Nov. 18, 1952, over Korean coastal waters during the Korean War, then-Lt. Williams, from Wilmot, South Dakota, led three F9F Panthers against seven Soviet MiG-15s. He disabled three enemy jets and damaged a fourth.
The Soviet jets, according to the U.S. Naval Institute, were “superior to the F9F in almost every fashion.” The mission was the only direct overwater combat between U.S. Navy fighters and Soviet fighters during the Cold War.
Williams, one of 11 Medal of Honor recipients from South Dakota, now lives in California. The Hall of Honor at the South Dakota Capitol is located in the hallway that visitors enter immediately after going through security.
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