Christian activists to forge weapons of violence into garden tools. How to participate
Christian activists will show people this Saturday how to turn weapons of violence into instruments of peace using a hammer − and some faith − to forge guns into garden tools.
The event, hosted by Delaware and Maryland churches belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, is an effort to get people to think differently about guns and how to handle conflict without violence. The "Youtherans," young people who attend Lutheran churches in Delaware and Maryland, are also organizing this free event at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, north of Wilmington.
"It's to say that there's a different way," said the Rev. Zachary Wright, one of the organizers and pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church in North East, Maryland. "And it's to bring people together and to learn."
The event will run from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at St. Mark's Lutheran Church, 501 Duncan Road in Fox Point.
Delaware's gun violence is down
The number of shootings across Delaware is down by nearly 4% from the same time last year. This despite a recent spat of gunplay has left the unfinished month of May with the highest number of shooting victims (20) in a month since October, which saw a total of 22 people wounded by gunfire.
More: Tracking gun violence in Delaware
As of Wednesday, 76 people have been shot statewide — resulting in 14 homicides by gunfire. Delaware, for the same time last year, saw 79 people shot, 20 of them fatally.
Shooting numbers have been coming down since the all-time high of 2020 when the state saw 317 people shot that year — 70 of them fatally.
When compared with the same time period, Delaware had seen 83 people shot that year, 17 of them fatally. That's about an 8% drop.
While gun violence might be down, Wright said people are still seeing it in the news and other places.
"It might be down at home, you know, but it's still there," he said. "And around the world, it's still there too. So it's never a bad time to talk about peace. That's for sure."
Project called RAWTools uses forge
Shane Claiborne, who lives in Philadelphia's Kensington section, will demonstrate on Saturday how a project called RAWTools uses a forge — similar to what a blacksmith would use to make horseshoes — to turn gun parts into garden and hand tools, jewelry and even crucifixes.
"RAWtools' mission to 'disarm hearts and forge peace' is driven by our ability to make a choice about the tools we use to navigate conflict," according to the organization's website. "As we lose more than 100 people a day to gun violence in the United States, it's becoming more and more clear that guns have no place in conflict resolution."
Through the organization's Sword to Plow program, people can donate their guns and receive a free garden tool created from that weapon.
RAWtools keeps any remaining parts to make more tools or items to raise money for their work, according to their website. The organization walks people wanting to donate through the process of legally disabling their guns and then connects them to its disarming network.
Send tips or story ideas to Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299 or eparra@delawareonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Turning guns to garden tools: How this Lutheran group aims to do it
