Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s Guns to Gardens Action Circles program is growing
All-volunteer project moves into its fifth year
As the federal government dismantles programs that prevent gun violence, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship begins its fifth year of another kind of dismantling: Guns to Gardens Action Circles that help churches learn to safely dismantle unwanted firearms, turning them into garden tools, art or jewelry.
Since the summer of 2021, volunteers from the Peace Fellowship’s Gun Violence Prevention Ministry have guided nearly 600 local church participants through the online series, growing a nationwide community of gun violence prevention activists armed with chop saws, anvils, determination and hope.
“Churches like Guns to Gardens because it is a positive response to a painful issue,” says the Rev. Margery Rossi, the Peace Fellowship’s Minister for Gun Violence Prevention. “It brings people together at a very deep level in our society — churches, gun owners, veterans, woodworkers, blacksmiths, artists and many more. And our volunteer leaders are amazing.”
The Action Circles are ecumenical and have included participants from 21 denominations, including the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Southern Baptists and the Church of the Nazarene.
The fifth year begins with Summer Action Circles from July 10-August 14, for one hour weekly, plus time for preparation. Register for the daytime option, noon Eastern Time, here. Register for the evening option, 7:30 p.m. Eastern time, here. A record number of folks are already registered, but there is still space for more. Action Circles often have participants from every U.S. time zone. The Action Circles are free of charge.
“What I really liked about the Action Circle was learning on Zoom with other church members around the country,” says Douglas Hunt, a graduate of the Guns to Gardens Action Circles. His congregation, First Presbyterian Church in Stockton, California, has supported Guns to Gardens events in Oakland and Sacramento.
“The federal government is not only abandoning programs and research that prevent gun violence, but they are actually cutting the staff who enforce background checks and inspect gun stores to prevent illegal gun trafficking. The church can stand by or it can stand up. Join an Action Circle and stand up,” says Hunt.
With over half a billion guns in private hands in the United States, Guns to Gardens provides a responsible way for gun owners to dispose of unwanted guns without returning them to the gun market, or risk them being stolen or accessed by children or others who may be at risk. Each gun owner is thanked with a gift card, with values from $25 for a BB gun up to $250 for semiautomatic assault rifles. Action Circle participants learn how to bring all of this to fruition in a church parking lot. See a video here as a gun owner calls on other gun owners to bring unwanted semiautomatic assault weapons to Guns to Gardens.
Originally created by the Rev. Deanna Hollas, the first minister in the United States ordained to a ministry of Gun Violence Prevention, the Action Circles use an online curriculum with two volunteer leaders per session. The current leaders are the Rev. Rosalind Hughes, Episcopal Canon for Beloved Community in the Diocese of Cleveland, Ohio; Rita Niblack, a retired art teacher and lay leader at Most Precious Blood Catholic Church in Denver; the Rev. Rachel Sutphin, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Hammonton, New Jersey, who grew up as part of the “lockdown generation”; Emily Bruno, a Tallahassee, Florida attorney and recent seminary graduate; Nancy Halden, communications coordinator for the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah; and the Rev. Jan Orr-Harter, a retired Presbyterian pastor in Aledo, Texas.
To keep Action Circles current with rules and best practices for Guns to Gardens, the Peace Fellowship partners with RAWtools, the national nonprofit that provides a network of blacksmiths to transform gun parts into garden tools, as well as oversight on safety and legal issues.
“The Action Circles are fantastic,” says Scotty Utz, a Quaker blacksmith who coordinates RAWtools South in North Carolina. “When you look at those faces on the screen, you know that you are seeing some of the finest people in our country and in the church.” Utz will lead the hands-on Guns to Gardens training at the Peace Fellowship’s Atwood Institute for Congregational Courage September 24-27 in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The Institute is an ecumenical continuing education event for clergy and lay leaders to gain skills in working on gun violence prevention with congregations. Learn more about the Atwood Institute here.
Guns to Gardens Action Circles run four times a year, with a daytime or evening option, a total of eight Circles per year. Some participants bring their bag lunch to the midday sessions. Technology allows leaders to share videos on how unwanted guns are dismantled on a chop saw, as well as diagrams for how to set up a safe disposal event in a church parking lot, and sample publicity materials from congregations around the nation.
The six weeks have distinct topics, with time for each participant to share about their efforts locally. Topics include outreach, logistics of a safe disposal event, publicity and fundraising for gift cards, building anti-racism into Guns to Gardens, firearm safety, and the pastoral aspects of Guns to Gardens.
Inspired by the call to beat swords into plowshares in Isaiah 2:4, Action Circle graduates have hosted Guns to Gardens safe disposal events in about 25 states. Twice a year, graduates gather for online reunions to share their local progress and to learn a new skill together. They also maintain an Action Circle GRADS Facebook page to share new ideas, photos, questions and news about safe disposal events.
“In the Action Circles, we feel a sacred calling to support church members who are moved by their faith to take action against gun violence,” Rossi said. “Each person has heard some call from the Holy Spirit to sign up, to explore Guns to Gardens and to help save lives. We give thanks for each person and each congregation in the Action Circles. None of us can do this work alone. With God’s help, we do it together.”
Learn more about Guns to Gardens Action Circles here.
About the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
Founded in 1944, the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship is a nationwide community of Christians committed to the nonviolence of Jesus Christ. PPF equips congregations and individuals to seek practical alternatives to violence and war, including gun violence. An independent nonprofit group, PPF operates with volunteers and a small staff, collaborating with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and encouraging this work in congregations and with ecumenical partners. Learn more here.
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