Join the Safe Surrender Movement

A service to safely dismantle guns and forge them into useful garden tools

By: Nancy Farrar Halden

For years now the gun lobby has been pushing a narrative that we live in an unsafe country, and the best remedy is personal protection with a gun. In fact, neither of these premises is true.

Except for the two years during pandemic, the crime rates including property crime, larceny, burglary, and motor vehicle theft and violent crime rates including robbery, murder, and aggravated assault have declined over the last thirty years. Moreover, report after report verifies that we are not safer with a gun. A gun is much more likely to be used in a suicide, domestic violence homicide, unintentional shooting, or to be stolen and used in a crime than it is to protect family and property.

Years of savvy marketing and stoking fear in unsuspecting Americans have resulted in record sales and profits for the gun industry. Americans have been duped by the gun industry into buying guns for safety, and now our country is awash in guns.

The current estimate is 352 million guns for 332 million people — more than enough for every man, woman, and child in the country to have their own gun.

Although the promise of the gun industry was that with more guns and fewer restrictions on gun ownership, our country would achieve greater safety, gun violence rates continue to climb. One does not have to look far into the daily news reports of gun violence to realize that easy access to guns is, in fact, the source of our gun violence.

So, what to do? With gun lobby money bulging in their pockets, our politicians are largely paralyzed on the issue. What we really need is a change in the narrative.

Enter RAWTools, a nonprofit organization out of Colorado Springs, CO (and now with an east coast hub in Philadelphia, PA). Rather than the binary conversation of more guns or more laws, RAWTools proposes a commitment to solving problems without guns and violence. This encourages people to ask the question, “Do you really need that gun? Do you really want the liability that comes along with it; and if you don’t, how can you ensure that your gun won’t fall into unsafe hands?”

RAWTools began inviting people to voluntarily give up their guns, and offers a service where they safely dismantle the guns and forge them into beautiful, useful garden tools.

This echoes the Biblical call to peacemaking from Isaiah: “And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."

RAWTools partners with police departments, civic groups, and religious communities across the country and hosts safe surrender events. Some of these events offer gift cards in exchange for the surrendered firearm. Others, like an event in Utah, just invite a donation of the gun.

In addition to events, RAWTools has set up a network of disarming stations staffed with people who are knowledgeable in the safe and ATF-approved protocol for dismantling a firearm. This means that anyone can reach out and safely surrender their gun at any time – no need to wait for an event. This is especially important for families who have experienced the trauma of losing a loved one to gun suicide and wish to safely dispose of the weapon.

On June 10, 2023, RAWTools is working in conjunction with the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship to sponsor “Guns To Gardens” events in religious communities nationwide.

This is an opportunity for people who have guns and no longer want or need them to surrender them without worrying that they might fall into unsafe hands and be the source of tragedy for another person. Guns may be surrendered anonymously. Once the guns are safely dismantled, the parts will be transported to RAWTools where they will be transformed into garden tools. Proceeds from the sale of these garden tools support the work that RAWTools does. In addition to their “Guns To Gardens” events, RAWTools also hosts nonviolence trainings and community development opportunities.

With the new East Coast RAWTools hub in Philadelphia and financial support from the non-profit GunXGun – which takes donations to fund gun buy-backs – the momentum for a new narrative appears to be building. Americans are sick of gun violence, sick of the pain, the grief, the endless flags at half-mast, and the lives needlessly cut short. As in so many intractable problems in our country, maybe the solution lies in changing hearts at a grassroots level.

RAWTools’ mission says it all: “Disarm Hearts; Forge Peace; Cultivate Justice.” If this sounds like a tall order, consider all the ways you can be involved.

Make a financial donation to support the work that RAWTools and GunXGun are doing. At GunXGun, a $100 donation takes a handgun off the streets. For $200 you can take an assault weapon off the streets.

Get a local church, civic organization, or police department to sponsor a gun buyback or giveback in your community. Presbyterian Peace Fellowship can help you organize your event.

If you are a gun owner and no longer want or need the gun, consider giving it up. If you know a gun owner who no longer wants or needs their gun, have a conversation with them about safely disposing of it so that it doesn’t cause harm in the community.

Check out the RAWTools website for the disarming station nearest to you.

Nancy Farrar Halden, Communications, Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah

Images courtesy of RAWTools