Clad in a suede leather smith’s apron and a construction-orange stole, Reverend Michael Burnett strikes a red hot piece of metal, fresh from a mini-forge. Over his shoulder is an image of Jesus Christ, forging a sword into a farming implement.
“You know the phrase, ‘strike while the iron’s hot’?” Burnett said. “There’s good wisdom in that. And you get about 10 seconds.”
The piece is slowly taking the shape of a garden mattock, but just an hour and a half prior “that was an AR-15 barrel.”
“And now it’s on its way to being something that’s going to feed somebody,” Burnett said.
Burnett is a minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and one of the people behind a recent safe firearm surrender in Hampton.
The surrender event and forging demonstration was sponsored by the James River Chapter of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, a nonpartisan coalition of faith communities that advocate on a variety of issues in the Commonwealth including gun violence prevention.
“Hampton Roads is no stranger to gun violence,” Burnett said. “We have some cities here that are in the list of the most violent cities in the country and there is a reality to that.”
The chapter is just one participant in a growing national project called Guns to Gardens, which takes donations of unwanted firearms and transforms them into garden tools. It takes inspiration from a biblical verse in the Book of Isaiah, portending that one day people would “hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.”
The concept originated more than 10 years ago with a co-op called RAWtools in Colorado Springs, which has since expanded to Philadelphia and Asheville, North Carolina. Called RAWtools South, it partners with the blossoming group of organizers in Hampton Roads.
The organization sells tools and art pieces made from donated firearms, and offers free tools to donors made from their unwanted weapons. RAWtools also provides nonviolence training and resources through its workshops and demonstrations.
“As much as I love doing it, I hope we’re not the only ones doing it,” Burnett said. “I hope there’s so many folks participating in this movement within five years that we’re just a blip on the radar. That would be a beautiful thing.”
Organizers moved quickly after Hurricane Helene devastated Asheville, making it impossible for RAWtools South to get to Hampton for the most recent event. Burnett stepped in at the forge, trained in basic blacksmithing skills about a year ago. Aaron Aliff of Metal Works in Yorktown volunteered to help cut and disassemble donated guns.
“A lot of things came through at the last minute yesterday,” Burnett said. “It was just shy of miraculous, if it can be said it was shy of it.”
For Kate McGaw of Williamsburg, it was a difficult morning.
“Emotions are still about as raw as that material being chopped up right now,” she said, watching a hunting weapon come apart.
McGaw is a member of Moms Demand Action Virginia. She brought her late husband Carl’s hunting guns to donate to the project.
“I thought this would be a way to … honor him, turning some of his beloved guns into artwork, garden artwork,” she said.
After seeing them dismantled, she took a turn swinging a hammer down on the barrel of a rifle donated ahead of her.
“That was something else. A wee bit of aggression coming out there, I think,” McGaw said. “Especially when I learned that was an AR-15 barrel. So yeah, even more aggression coming out.”
In addition to donors and disciples, local dignitaries including Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck, Vice Mayor Jimmy Gray and Council Member Chris Bowman took swings of their own in the first half of the day.
“The fact that individuals would be willing to turn in weapons and to have that converted into a garden tool, I think that’s tremendous,” Tuck said. “(It) says a lot for that particular individual and it says a lot for what we’re trying to do here today.”
Though donations came in at a slow pace, Burnett said it’s just the beginning for the project in Hampton Roads.
“Any guns we take off the street is better than none – and, moreover, it’s the presence in the community, it’s letting folks know we’re here, it’s letting folks know that something like this can be done,” Burnett said. “It’s making that proclamation (that) all things can be made new, that violence isn’t the final answer.”
