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The Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah holds ‘Guns to Gardens’ event
Jun 9, 2024, 3:38 PM | Updated: 3:45 pm
The Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah held its annual "Guns to Gardens" event Saturday, June 8. (KSLTV)
(KSLTV)
SALT LAKE CITY — The Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah turned their swords into plowshares Saturday at the “Guns to Gardens” event.
Every year, the Utah based non-profit hold this event where they turn unwanted guns into garden tools.
“As gun violence continues to increase in Utah… The Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah offers a peaceful option to getting unwanted firearms out of circulation,” said Terri Gilfillan, board chair of the non-profit, in a press release.
They held the event in collaboration with RAWtools Inc, along with the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. The First Baptist Church of Salt Lake City hosted.
The donated guns were dismantled per the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives guidelines.
The purpose of this was to make sure unwanted guns don’t fall into what the organization calls “unsafe hands.”
“Unwanted firearms can pose significant risks… Such as unintentional injury or death, suicide, theft and misuse,” the Center said in a press release.
RAWtools Inc. hosts events like this all across the country. But, according to their website, you don’t have to wait for the actual “Guns to Gardens” event to participate in the effort.
You can mail a properly disarmed gun to any RAWtool location, their website says. They then forge the gun into a garden tool, jewelry, or any other custom item.
About the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah
The mission of the Center is “to prevent the tragedy of gun violence through education and reasonable regulation of firearms.”
According to their website, the idea of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah began in 1994. After a personal tragedy involving gun violence, Salt Lake couple Ron and Norma Molen founded it’s first iteration, “Utahns Against Gun Violence.”
It officially became the “Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah in 2001, after the Molen’s joined other concerned citizens in the effort to educate people about gun misuse.
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