While politicians at local and national levels attempt to legislate gun violence, groups like Guns to Gardens have been galvanized into action. In partnership with Colorado Springs-based RAWtools, the faith-based community works to dismantle firearms and repurpose them into gardening tools and artwork.
The group hosts regular surrender events, inviting gun owners to safely and anonymously drop off their unwanted, unloaded guns. Their mission is interwoven with the community’s faith, citing the Bible verse Isaiah 2:4, “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.”
“Churches sort of can play a uniquely healing role, or it’s kind of a place where if people have lost someone they like to volunteer and you just hear the sound of these guns being chopped up as it provides a measure of healing,” said Cheryl Fleetwood, a volunteer for Guns to Gardens.
According to data from the Gun Violence Archive, the number of mass shootings in Colorado in 2023 hit a 10-year high. The state recorded 16 mass shootings last year with 76 victims. Homicide committed with a firearm increased in the state by 159% between 2013 and 2022 compared to 70% nationwide. But the statistics surrounding gun suicides are also alarming. Between that same ten-year span, Gun suicides in the state increased 23% over a national average of 18%. By collecting unwanted firearms, the volunteer members of Guns to Gardens hope to reduce gun deaths across the state.
Libby Clarke, a volunteer for almost two years, said she’s been engaged in gun violence prevention since her senior year at East High School in 1999—the same year as the Columbine High School massacre. She said she went off to college later that year thinking adults would fix the problem.
“Then I moved back to Denver some years later, and adults could not fix the problem and we had the Aurora theatre shooting and Sandy Hook in the same six-month period, so I started working with other groups on legislative action to reduce gun violence,” Clarke said. “Then, in 2022 the church started advertising the opportunity to be involved in Guns to Gardens which was very cool.”
The group hosts its surrender events at churches of various denominations—including Mennonite, Catholic, Methodist, Universalist and non-denominational—and community centers. Firearms are surrendered via a drive-through, with donors asked to remain in their vehicles with their unloaded weapons in the backseat or trunk. Safety specialists retrieve the firearms, which are checked to ensure they’re unloaded and they’re sawed in half right there, in front of the donor. The gun is confirmed to be destroyed for both the donor and the group. The act often allows people relief, knowing that the firearm is no longer a problem for them or anyone else. As a thank you for their choice to safely dismantle, donors are offered a gift card in an amount depending on the type of firearm.
The group works closely with the area police departments, notifying them of where and when events will take place. Guns to Gardens also provides departments with a list of the serial numbers of the collected firearms. According to volunteers, the departments support their work of getting guns off the street.
Fleetwood spoke on how the dropoff of unwanted guns can be cathartic and healing for people. In many cases, the surrendered guns were involved in suicides or other traumatic memories.
“We’ve had people come who say, ‘My doctor told me I shouldn’t have this in my house,’ because that person is potentially suicidal, they’re depressed. Additionally, the majority of gun deaths are suicides. If people have them in their homes and we can get rid of guns that might be used for that purpose, and help people do that, I really do think it’s making a difference,” she said.
Not only is the process fairly easy, but it’s effective. Although the group hasn’t released total numbers, since launching in 2023 they have gathered anywhere from 35 to almost 150 firearms at each of their events. Fleetwood reflected on one instance when a father and his teenage son dropped off two guns—one an illegal sawed-off shotgun—that they had found in his mother’s house.
“He said, ‘My brother is in prison, and he had these guns at my mother’s house. We found them and we just want them out of our house and we want them destroyed.’ That was one situation where it was very likely those weapons had been used in a crime because his brother was in prison. But they were bringing them in and were very relieved to have them destroyed,” Fleetwood said.
The events create a space for people to safely and effectively destroy their unwanted or unused firearms, with no judgment or names involved. The unique part about Guns to Gardens is that they also turn the guns into something reusable, like garden tools and art pieces that serve another purpose.
“I would ask them to think about whether they need the firearm. Does it make them safer? And I know that some folks feel safer with a firearm in their home or in their possession. But I think statistically, we know that being in possession of a firearm probably makes you less safe. And so if it doesn’t help you feel safer or isn’t making you safer, and you worry about it getting into someone else’s hands or being used to harm someone. It’s probably the right time to turn in your firearm,” Fleetwood said.
Guns to Gardens is creating a space to help a lot of people and create opportunities to safely dispose of weapons to stop the ripple of harm that can stem from just one weapon. The next event is on June 15 at Glennon Heights Mennonite Church in Lakewood from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
“I think the other thing that we don’t talk about, we talk about mass shootings, but most gun violence deaths are suicides or homicides in Denver, and we like to believe that if we remove one gun from the streets, or if we remove five maybe we can reduce the baseline level of suicide deaths and homicide and that would be really wonderful,” Clarke said.
