Providence Presbytery Grant Award - Guns to Gardens

By Katie Rutland

Technology & Communications Coordinator, Providence Presbytery

In South Carolina, firearms are easily obtained, but not so easily discarded. South Carolina has the 6th highest gun homicide rate in the country and lenient to non-existent state laws regulating their sale and storage. Through varying roles as parents, grandparents, gun owners, law enforcement officers and community safety advocates, members of Providence Presbytery’s Guns to Gardens Mission Neighborhood have witnessed the negative impact of gun violence on their communities. Their response is a united mission: to create safer communities by decreasing the number of unwanted firearms and educating neighbors about gun violence prevention.

The organizers wanted to host a gun disposal event, and the Guns to Gardens initiative offered a realistic path to bringing that mission to life. By learning from the PC(USA) Office of Public Witness’s Decade to End Gun Violence initiative and the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship’s educational workshops, the organizers in Providence Presbytery set out to fulfill their mission.

Cost is the most significant obstacle to hosting an event of this kind. The organizers in Providence Presbytery chose to perform the firearm inspection and destruction themselves, as opposed to inviting the team from RawTools (which oversees the Guns to Garden initiative) to do the work for them. This is a tremendous cost saving measure, but requires significant training and materials.

The Cultivating Community Grant fund of the Synod of South Atlantic is what made it possible for the team to receive the required training and safety equipment in order to host events.

The mission team’s gun disposal event was the first Guns to Gardens event held in South Carolina. Seven firearms were destroyed in order to be reforged into symbols of peace. While the team plans its next disposal event, its members have been busy speaking to congregations about gun violence prevention, hosting workshops and even created a public display in remembrance of South Carolina’s gun violence victims. Organizers are in talks with other community groups and denominations to plan a future communitywide forum about gun violence prevention.

The team has the passion and dedication to put this initiative into motion, but – simply put – without the awarded funds from the Synod, it likely would still be in the planning phase of its signature firearm disposal event. Instead, there are similar teams within the Synod regularly reaching out to ask the folks in Providence Presbytery for advice on hosting their own event.

The mission is clear and, thanks to the Cultivating Community Grant, the team in Providence is equipped.