Oakland's Guns to Gardens aims to reduce shootings by turning firearms into yard tools
Have you ever wondered what happens to guns collected at local buybacks? One artistic Oakland blacksmith is transforming the firearms into gardening tools.
Something remarkable is happening at John Rogers' workshop in East Oakland. Guns capable of taking life are being transformed into instruments that nurture it.
For the last couple of years, Rogers, a sculptor and blacksmith, has been part of a national movement that turns surrendered weapons into gardening tools.
"I'm an anti-gun violence person definitely, so I feel very strongly about it," he said.
Called Guns to Gardens, the program allows people to turn over their firearms -- no questions asked -- in exchange for a gift card and a garden tool made from the decommissioned weapons.
On a sunny day in July, Rogers was turning an old Stevens 320 12-guage shotgun into a hand shovel.
"I'm using the same curvature of the gun. I'm just opening it up into a shovel shape, like a flower unfolding in a way," he explained.
In addition to the garden tools, for the last three decades, he's been forging old pistols and rifles into dragons, critters, and mythical creatures.
Growing up in a military family, Rogers was introduced to firearms at an early age. Since then, he's witnessed the devastation of gun violence up close after a friend was killed in a murder-suicide.
The hope is that his works of art force people to think differently about the weapons.
"They're beautiful, but they're also made for war, made for killing," Rogers said.
Oakland Police Captain Steve Valle says in the last few years, the city had a significant uptick in shootings. He said programs like Guns to Gardens help get hundreds of firearms off the street.
"It's a very powerful way of repurposing guns into the community in a positive way," he said.
For Rogers, it's a chance to disarm hearts while making the world a little bit safer.
"It's transformative. It's lead into gold. Or in this case, lead into green," he said.