Host a Disarming Event Sept. 4 at Your Church

Gun Violence Prevention News for Congregations July 2021 Contents in this Issue: 1. Guns into Gardens Read Below and Sign Up for Sept. 2021 Launch for this New Action 2. The Background Check bills are still stalled in the US Senate. Act quickly to encourage your senators to vote YES on the confirmation of David Chipman as Director of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Text the word Chipman to 644-33 or learn more HERE. 3. Wed. Sept 1, 5 PM ET Save the Date! Join in a national online gathering of Presbyterians, as PPF honors Cheryl and Doug Hunt of Stockton, CA with the Barstow-Driver Award for Excellence in Nonviolent Direct Action for their journey from retired teachers to gun violence prevention activists. The Keynote Speaker is Kathryn Fleischer, Executive Director of Not My Generation, a gun violence prevention organization of young adults. Be part of this amazing event of Presbyterians nationwide on Sept. 1! Learn more HERE and register HERE.  PPF Calls for New Action: Guns into Gardens We invite your church to help your neighbors safely surrender guns that they no longer want and to transform those guns into garden tools.  Why? In September in Houston, the NRA will celebrate its 150th anniversary and the achievement of its goal of "guns everywhere." We now have approximately 400 million guns in civilian hands. What else has 150 years of the NRA brought us? Over 100 people die every day from gun violence, with 200 more wounded. As Americans, we are 25 times more likely to be shot as people who live in peer nations, with gun violence now the leading cause of death among our children and youth. It is time for the church to say: Enough. SAT. SEPT 4 TAKE ACTION In response, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship Gun Violence Prevention Program is asking you join with other congregations across the United States on Sept. 4 by hosting a disarming event at your church. Invite persons in your church or community to safely surrender guns that they no longer want. Pray with or listen to the story of the person bringing the unwanted gun. You need a chop saw and an outside concrete area near a power source to disarm unwanted guns. Send the scrap parts to RAWtools to be made into garden tools or art. Spurred into action by the 2012 shooting at the Sandy Hook school, RAWtools has been implementing the vision of Isaiah by beating "swords into plowshares" and guns into garden tools for nearly ten years. The Guns into Gardens project can utilize the skills of many in your congregation, from publicity and outreach, to pastoral care for those who donate guns, to correctly operating power tools, to securely handling the guns themselves. These initial September events in congregations can be small, even one firearm. And, if you can't do it by the NRA anniversary Sept. 4, do it later. But, according to Isaiah 2:4, it's time to get started! The photos above show the chop saw and dismantled guns from a pilot event at Oak Lawn United Methodist Church in Dallas, TX.   Sign up HERE to learn more about how your church can become a disarming church. PPF will provide training resources and support for Guns into Gardens and will help congregations share and learn from each other's experience. For questions, contact Rev. Deanna Hollas, new owner of a chop saw and Coordinator of the PPF Gun Violence Prevention Ministry, at deanna@presbypeacefellowship.org  ‌  ‌  ‌ Please share this project on social media or forward it to others in your community. Time is short! Let's share and act. LOCAL SPOTLIGHT: Community United Church of Christ, Boulder, CO In response to a shooting that killed 10 people in March at a nearby grocery store, Community UCC hosted a gun surrender event on June 13. In just three hours, dozens of guns were collected, safely dismantled and forged into garden tools. The Guns into Gardens event was held in partnership with RAWtools, which is based in Boulder, and had the support of the Boulder Police Dept., the Colorado Attorney General's Office and Colorado Faith Communities United to End Gun Violence. Photo Above, Church members remove guns from the vehicle of a gun donor. Photo, Trained church members prepare for the event. Here’s how the process worked: From 1 to 4 p.m., volunteers collected and disabled weapons. Gun owners drove onto the church campus and the firearms were removed from their vehicles. The weapons were disabled on site, and immediately taken to six chop saw stations that RAWtools positioned around the church property. Pieces went into a foundry to create garden tools. Gun donors were given thank-you gift cards in varying amounts, based on the type of firearm surrendered. Individuals collected a $100 card for pistols and long guns, $200 for semi-automatic handguns and rifles, and $300 for assault weapons. While you do not have to use gift cards to thank gun donors, it may help to get the most dangerous guns out of homes, such as assault weapons. Community UCC received $20,000 in community and church gifts to support the project. You can find a local blacksmith to forge the garden tools or you can send the parts to RAWtools in CO. Getting unwanted guns out of homes can save lives. These guns may have been returned to a family by the police after being used in a suicide or accident. They may be inherited weapons that families do not wish to have in a home with children or with older members. They may belong to a family struggling with depression or addiction. They may belong to older persons who no longer feel safe handling firearms. They may have negative or positive memories. The church is equipped to pastorally care for those who bring unwanted guns and the diverse memories these guns may carry. As Rev. Nicole Lamarche at Community UCC put it, the Guns into Gardens event offered "a public ritual for processing grief."   Photos Above, U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse, Mike Martin of RAWtools, and Pastor Rev. Nicole Lamarche show new garden tools.  Associate Pastor Rev. Jackie Hibbard makes a gardening tool out of gunmetal. Below, A trained church member dismantles a gun with a chop saw. "Don't underestimate our role as conveners of the community. Our places and spaces as people of faith and kindness are game changers. People are looking to make meaning out of tragedy and to transform all of this trauma... We are made for such a time as this." -Rev. Nicole Lamarche, Pastor, Community UCC Read more HERE about the June 13 Guns into Gardens event Photos from Community United Church of Christ, Boulder, CO  We thank Mike Martin of RAWtools Gun Violence Prevention Ministry Presbyterian Peace Fellowship 214-702-2265 gvp@presbypeacefellowship.org Rev. Deanna Hollas, Coordinator deanna@presbypeacefellowship.org presbypeacefellowship.org  ‌  ‌  ‌

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