A Memphis church is hoping to reduce the number of guns on the city’s streets by dismantling ones turned over and turning them into gardening tools.
Evergreen Presbyterian Church, Feb. 24, will host a drive through gun surrender event where gun owners can turn in unloaded firearms in exchange for Kroger gift cards.
“Like so many in our community, our church is concerned about the extreme level of gun violence in Memphis and the lives that are being devastated every day,” Rev. Patrick Harley, pastor of Evergreen Presbyterian Church, said in a press release. “We are offering this event as an affirmation of our commitment to peacemaking by working to reduce gun violence in Memphis and Shelby County.”
The event is part of a national “Guns to Gardens” movement that Evergreen Presbyterian Church said has resulted in thousands of guns being dismantled.
“People who, for whatever reason, have guns that they no longer want will be able to safely and anonymously surrender those firearms to be dismantled and later transformed into garden tools,” Harley said. “This is foundational to our faith — taking weapons designed to destroy and transforming them into tools that bring life.”