COLUMBIA, S.C. (WACH) — Unwanted guns were given a new purpose in Columbia on Saturday as the Richland County Sheriff’s Department partnered with Guns to Gardens South Carolina to dismantle and destroy firearms and turn the remaining metal into tools and art.
Sixty firearms from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department’s evidence inventory that had been sent for destruction were dismantled and destroyed at McGregor Presbyterian Church. Members of the community were also invited to bring unwanted firearms to the site for destruction.
After the guns were destroyed, the remaining metal was transformed by Raw Tools South into garden tools, art, jewelry and other items.
Organizers said the event was about more than simply destroying firearms.
“There’s more firearms than there are people in our country and firearms last for generations. So sometimes people who don’t know how to handle firearms have them in their homes and they’re unsafe. They don’t have safes to store them. And they may not know how to handle them,” said Scotty Utz of Raw Tools South.
Pastor Sam Codington of McGregor Presbyterian Church said the effort aligns with the church’s values.
“We believe that god desires all the children of the Earth to flourish and this is one way we can express our commitment to peace and nonviolence,” Codington said.
Organizers said it was the first Guns to Gardens event held at a Presbyterian church in the area. Prisma Health also gave out lockboxes to attendees.
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