THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS-GAZETTE ARTICLE BY JENNIFER BAILEY
ABOVE: Rifles were reported missing this summer from the former VFW Post on Pine Street in Danville. (file photo)
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DANVILLE — What was originally feared to be the area’s biggest firearms heist of 2025 — 21 rifles reported stolen in July from a Danville VFW post — turned out to be a false alarm.
Missing from the report dropped off at the Danville Public Safety Building was one key detail: They were ceremonial rifles.
“They do not fire live ammunition,” Scott Swinford, state adjutant/quartermaster with the Illinois Veterans of Foreign Wars, told The News-Gazette.
The rifles went missing before Swinford was put in charge of Danville’s now-closed VFW Post 728.
The ceremonial rifles were discovered missing during the administrative process of shutting down the Pine Street post, which had been suspended and had its charter revoked, Swinford said.
He said the state VFW filed a police report and notified the federal branch that issues the rifle
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