Guns to Gardens in the St. Croix Valley is taking Isaiah 2:4 to heart.
The group, an offshoot of the national Guns to Gardens movement, will be putting the Bible verse — “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks” — into action next month by turning unwanted guns into gardening tools.
Guns to Gardens in the St. Croix Valley will hold its first event from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, in the parking lot of First Presbyterian Church of Stillwater in Oak Park Heights.
The group is working to reduce gun violence by reducing the number of guns in homes and communities, said Linda Orsted, co-leader of the event and a member of First Presbyterian.
Unwanted and unloaded guns will be dismantled at the drive-through event, and the leftover parts will be forged into garden tools and decorative objects, she said.
How to donate
Those participating in the event are asked to place working, unloaded guns in the trunk or the rear of the vehicle; no ammunition is accepted.
Skilled personnel will remove the firearms from the vehicles, make sure they are unloaded and transfer them to a “chop-saw station,” she said.
Trained volunteers will use power tools to make required cuts to the guns according to guidelines from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The gun owner, who remains anonymous, waits through this process and there is no transfer of firearm ownership. Once the gun is dismantled, it is no longer legally a gun. The owner can donate the leftover parts to be forged into garden tools, which will be donated to garden nonprofits, she said.
Grocery gift cards
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Guns to Gardens in the St. Croix Valley will distribute gift cards from local grocery stores — until supplies run out — as a thank you to donors, Orsted said. Gift cards will be given thusly: $200 for a semiautomatic, assault-style rifle; $150 for a revolver or semiautomatic handgun; and $100 for a manual shotgun, hunting rifle or pistol.
Anyone who wouldn’t want to see a good hunting rifle or shotgun go to waste should consider taking it to a gun or antique dealer instead, Orsted said, although the goal of the event is to remove guns from the marketplace and reduce the number of firearm accidents and deaths.
The participating organizations include First Presbyterian, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, St. Croix United Church, St. Michael’s Catholic Church, American Legion Post No. 491 and Moms Demand Action Woodbury/Stillwater along with concerned individuals from the community.
For more information or to contribute a tax-deductible gift for the project, contact gunstogardensstcroix@gmail.com.