Canton Teen Sentenced for Mailing Firearm to Rapid City

A 19-year-old Canton man is on federal probation after admitting to mailing a loaded Taurus revolver through the U.S. Postal Service—a dangerous breach of federal law. Kohl Hammer was sentenced on May 20, 2019, by Chief Judge Jeffrey L. Viken in U.S. District Court, avoiding prison time but locked into three years of strict supervision.

Hammer pleaded guilty to one count of Mailing a Firearm, a charge filed on September 18, 2018, after investigators confirmed he shipped a Taurus, model 85B2, .38 Special caliber, double-action revolver from Rapid City in August of that year. The act violated both federal statutes and the explicit rules of the U.S. Postal Service, which bans the shipment of loaded firearms without proper authorization.

At sentencing, Hammer was ordered to serve 3 years of probation and pay a $100 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund. Though he avoided incarceration, the court remanded him to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending supervision protocols, a move underscoring the seriousness of trafficking weapons through civilian mail channels.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, one of the nation’s oldest federal law enforcement agencies tasked with protecting the integrity of the mail system. Agents traced the package and linked it directly to Hammer, whose actions prompted a swift federal prosecution under the DOJ’s renewed emphasis on gun-related offenses.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Patterson handled the prosecution as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a Justice Department initiative reinvigorated in 2017 to combat violent crime through coordinated federal, state, and local enforcement. PSN targets illegal gun possession and trafficking, particularly when public safety is jeopardized by reckless acts like mailing live firearms.

“This sentence sends a clear message: the U.S. mail is not a weapon delivery service,” said U.S. Attorney Ron Parsons. “Even without intent to commit further violence, shipping a loaded gun through the postal system endangers countless lives.” The case remains a textbook example of how federal agencies are cracking down on illegal firearm transfers, no matter the method.

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