Dismantling Guns, Cultivating Peace
Who We Are
Guns to Gardens PNW is a faith-based, community-driven initiative that dismantles unwanted firearms and turns them into garden tools, a powerful symbol of redemption that transforms instruments of violence into tools that cultivate life.
We exist to equip churches and community groups throughout the Pacific Northwest interested in hosting Guns to Gardens events to address the nation’s ongoing crisis of gun violence.
About Us
Guns to Gardens is a national, volunteer-led movement that provides communities with a safe, nonviolent way to dispose of unwanted firearms. Through firearm safe surrender events, individuals can bring in guns they no longer want or feel safe keeping, whether due to changes in family circumstances, aging, mental health concerns, or personal convictions. At each event, trained volunteers use specialized tools to dismantle the surrendered firearms on site, ensuring they can never be used again. These events offer a respectful, practical alternative to reselling or discarding firearms, helping reduce the risk of gun-related injuries and deaths.
What makes Guns to Gardens unique is what happens next: the dismantled parts are transformed into garden tools, a powerful symbol of redemption that turns instruments of violence into tools that cultivate life. This symbolic act not only promotes healing, but also removes weapons permanently from communities.
Guns to Gardens is a modern take on the Biblical prophetic vision of a future without violence or war, and therefore no need for weapons. The prophet Isaiah says, “they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.” In that vein, we’re beating guns into garden tools and promoting a message of nonviolence, as modeled by Jesus Christ.
Guns to Gardens is inspired by the work of RAWtools, a nonprofit that for over a decade has built a national network forging peace from dismantled firearms.
Our Services
“They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war again.”
- Isaiah 2:4
FAQs
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Many of these guns are no longer wanted for a range of reasons:
The gun owner may have children or grandchildren in the home
A gun owner may have reached an age where they no longer feel that they can safely handle weapons
A gun may have been returned to family by the police after it was used in a suicide or unintentional shooting
There may be conflict in a family or relationship so that safety is now a concern
There may be a family member in the home with a serious mental illness, including depression or suicidal ideation
The guns may have been inherited by someone who doesn’t want them
Nearly 70% of those who surrendered their weapons at our past events said they were turning in their firearms for safety reasons. Some of the top reasons these donors chose to have their firearms dismantled were because they didn’t know how to use the firearm, they were unable to store the firearm properly, they were afraid of theft or that the firearm might get into the wrong hands, or they simply did not want the firearm around or in their house. Whatever the reason, Guns to Gardens provides a way to dispose of unwanted guns without returning them to the gun marketplace where they could be used for future harm.
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For each Guns to Gardens drive-through event, community members bring unwanted, unloaded guns in the trunk, rear, or back seat of a vehicle. Trained personnel remove the firearms from vehicles, clear them for safety, and transfer them to a chop saw station. Skilled volunteers then use power tools to make three cuts to the gun, according to guidelines from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Craftsmen, including blacksmiths, woodworkers, and artists, then transform the dismantled pieces into garden tools and art.
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The event is not a traditional gun “buy back,” as the gun owner waits throughout this process and there is no transfer of firearm ownership. Once the gun is dismantled, it is no longer legally a gun. The owner can donate the leftover parts to be forged into garden tools. While the Guns to Gardens event is not a traditional gun “buy back,” we offer gift cards to gun owners as a way to thank them for disposing of unwanted firearms.
Contact Us
Have questions about Guns to Gardens PNW? Interested in working together? Please send us an email at info@gunstogardenspnw.org or subscribe to our email list below to stay up to date on upcoming events
We can’t wait to hear from you!