A rifle is cut into parts for the Guns to Gardens program. Courtesy photo

SHEPHERDSTOWN — A nationwide program took its first step into West Virginia this month, with Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church (SPC) bringing the Guns to Gardens event to Shepherdstown for the first time.

The event, which enabled local residents to safely surrender unwanted firearms and allow them to be transformed into garden tools or art, was held at Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department.

“Guns to Gardens events are typically held at the church sponsoring the event. However, since Shepherdstown Presbyterian’s parking lot is so small, we had to find an alternate site,” said event spokesperson Leslie Williams. “The physical layout at the fire department parking lot was well-suited to the logistical requirements of a Guns to Gardens event.”

A total of 25 different firearms were donated at the event, according to Williams.

“Gun types donated were as follows: 10 shotguns, four rifles, one semi-automatic rifle, eight handguns and two semi-automatic handguns,” Williams said.

The small parking area around Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church required a secondary location to be used for the Guns to Gardens event. Tabitha Johnston

As is typical with the nationwide program, this Guns to Gardens event’s donors received a gift card to a local grocery store: $50 for handguns, $100 for shotguns or rifles and $200 for semi-automatic guns. SPC raised funds to purchase the gift cards through a “PeaceFest” benefit concert in May. This differed from traditional gun buy-back event practices, where gun owners are paid market value for their guns, noted Rev. Deanna Hollas, the Presbyterian Church’s (USA) first ordained minister of gun violence prevention.

“We don’t compete with the open market, so these events don’t draw people seeking top dollar for their guns,” Hollas said. “Guns to Gardens draws people who are inspired by its underlying spirit of transformation.”

Hollas recently established Guns to Gardens training sessions, called “action circles,” through the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. Four members of SPC’s congregation attended an action circle, which then led to the development of this event.

“The organizing team felt the event was very successful,” Williams said. “The logistical process, developed by national organizations, seemed to work well for donors and volunteers. Yet, perhaps the greatest successes were the ones that can’t be measured. Owning a gun is a deeply personal choice — as is the choice to surrender one. For many who’ve participated in Guns to Gardens events around the country, there has been healing, relief and empowerment in knowing that the surrendered gun will be given a new life as a garden tool. We hope that some of the donors had that kind of positive experience.

“On a larger scale, this program operates outside the often-divisive debate around guns. It simply offers a community service for people who wish to dispose of guns, without taking issue with those who wish to own them,” Williams said. “Yes, it is a service that we believe will save lives, but it does so without standing in opposition. Offering that new possibility — a middle way through the din of division — is one of Guns to Gardens’ most important outcomes.”

The Guns to Gardens event was held at the Shepherdstown Volunteer Fire Department on June 11. Tabitha Johnston

The guns donated at the event were required to be in working order, unloaded and stowed in the trunk of each donor’s car. While the donors remained in their vehicles, skilled personnel removed the firearms, checked them, recorded their serial numbers and transferred them to a dismantling station. The donors then proceeded to that station, to observe their guns being cut into parts, following Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives guidelines, by trained volunteers.

One of those trained volunteers was O’Hurley’s General Store owner Jay Hurley, a lifelong gun enthusiast and collector

“I honor the importance of firearms in our country’s history. But I also recognize the growing need to get guns off our streets and, for some, out of our homes,” Hurley said. “So, while I chop up guns on June 11, you may see tears falling down my cheeks. Still, I’ll be happy to do it.”

Williams noted that, because the owners watched their guns’ dismantlement at the event, no transfer of ownership was needed.

“We had the same hope that anyone doing something new would have — to do some good. For this project, that might mean helping a widow dispose of her deceased husband’s firearms that she didn’t want in the home, or preventing an accident, a suicide or a crime.

“The truth is that we can’t know what will come from this, “Williams said. “We plant the mustard seeds as faithfully and carefully as we can – and then we hope for good to take root. And who knows? Maybe it already has.”