WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah — On Saturday, the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah and the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship partnered together to collect unwanted guns to transform them into gardening tools.
Utahns dropped off the unwanted firearms at the Christ United Methodist Church, where professionals took the firearms apart.
“Even the most skilled gunsmith couldn’t make this a serviceable weapon. This gun will never hurt anyone, because now it's just a chunk of metal,” said one of the volunteers.
The center will ship the pieces to a Colorado organization called RAWtools that will turn the guns into spades or mattocks you can purchase online.
“It’s a great alternative to selling them for people who just don’t want their guns to possibly be out on the street,” said Julie Peck-Dabling, a member of the Christ United Methodist Church.
“It’s a way to make sure that we are forging peace in society and we see that this is a means of preventing gun violence,” said Terri Gilfillian, board chair of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah.
Clark Aposhian with the Utah Shooting Sports Council argues that preventing gun violence begins with the person, not the object.
“You can drop it off at a police station, you can give it to someone. It’s not the firearm, it’s the individual with that firearm,” he said.
The council has played a big role in pushing for safe storage education to prevent firearms from getting into the wrong hands.
“You should always store your firearms in such a way that can effectively deny access to everyone who shouldn’t have access to it,” said Aposhian.
