Two AK-style rifles, one AR-15, a few Glock pistols and two Uzi submachine guns — one small enough to fit in a backpack.
These were some of the 98 firearms collected by volunteers from faith congregations and the Oakland Police Department on Saturday in an effort to cultivate new uses for the weapons — as garden tools.
The Guns to Gardens buyback program encouraged community members to exchange firearms — no questions asked — for Target gift cards worth up to $300, as well as garden tools formed from previous exchanges. The weekend event, held in the parking lot of At Thy Word Ministries in East Oakland, marked the faith-based group’s sixth iteration of the program.
After a firearm is brought in, OPD checks its serial number to make sure it wasn’t stolen. The weapon is then disabled, with rifles and shotguns turned into garden trowels and tillers…