WILLIAMSBURG, VA — In a unique initiative aimed at promoting community safety and sustainability, one local church in Williamsburg is taking a unique approach to gun surrender by converting unwanted firearms into gardening tools.
"These are weapons that will never hurt anyone again," said Pastor Dave Rochford of Williamsburg United Methodist Church.
Pastor Rochford shared with News 3, that every year one to two dozen guns come into the Williamsburg Police Departments possession from owners ( someone may have passed away, some who previously did target shooting/ hunting and no longer do it, or may have recently had a baby, etc.) who no longer want to keep it.
Rochford stated, the police would then pay to have the guns dismantled by their policies.
In an effort to help, for the first time, the church decided to connect with Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy and Guns to Gardens to collect unwanted fire arms.
The "Guns to Gardens" event rallied pastors and community leaders together to encourage anonymous donations from individuals who wish to relinquish their unwanted guns.
Donors were instructed to leave the firearms in the trunks of their cars, where professional firearm safety instructors disassembled them piece by piece.
“Shotgun barrels don't make very good garden mattocks," explained Michael Burnett, a reverend at the Hilton Church Disciples of Christ. "But they do make pretty good trowel heads.”
The disassembled guns are being repurposed into valuable gardening tools that will serve the community in community gardens.
"This is a way of transforming our world, even if it’s piece by piece... from a place of violence and conflict to a place of serving one another," shared Burnett.
The newly crafted garden tools will be donated to students participating in the "Back to the Garden" project, which focuses on maintaining church community gardens and donating the fresh produce, to those in need.
For those unable to attend, if you have an unwanted firearm and would like to have it converted into a garden tool, you can contact Reverend Burnett at guns2gardens757@gmail.com.
This article was researched, reported, and written by a WTKR News 3 journalist. AI was used to minimize typos and ensure style continuity.
