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    Artist turns guns into musical instruments

    •February 14, 2013
    • **CORRECTS SPELLING OF BASS GUITAR** Mexican sculptor Pedro Reyes poses behind an instrument that mimics the sound of a basS guitar, made from seized guns, at his workshop in Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2013. The guns that have caused so many deaths in northern Mexico are transformed into musical instruments by Reyes. “It's important to consider that many lives were taken with these weapons, as if a sort of exorcism was taking place,” says Reyes in a description of his project titled, "Disarm." The Mexican artist said he was able to choose his instruments from about 6,700 guns that were turned in or seized by the army and police in Ciudad Juarez, a city of about 1.3 million people that averaged about 10 killings a day at the height of the violence. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
    • An instrument that mimics the sound of a bass guitar created by Mexican sculptor Pedro Reyes from seized guns is seen in his workshop in Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2013. The guns that have caused so many deaths in northern Mexico are transformed into musical instruments by Reyes for a project titled "Disarm." The Mexican artist says, it occurred to him to make musical instruments, because music is the opposite of weapons. Reyes said he was able to choose his instruments from about 6,700 guns that were turned in or seized by the army and police in Ciudad Juarez, a city of about 1.3 million people that averaged about 10 killings a day at the height of the violence. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
    • A circular xylophone made from weapons' parts, by Mexican sculptor Pedro Reyes, sits in his workshop in Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2013. Reyes has dedicated his last two years transforming weapons, that were either turned in or seized by the army and police in Ciudad Juarez, into musical instruments. The Mexican artist also hopes to take his message international, with an exhibition of the musical instruments in London's Lisson Gallery in March and later in the United States. “This project has a pacifist intent, to create a global consciousness about arms trafficking,” Reyes said. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)
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    **CORRECTS SPELLING OF BASS GUITAR** Mexican sculptor Pedro Reyes poses behind an instrument that mimics the sound of a basS guitar, made from seized guns, at his workshop in Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2013. The guns that have caused so many deaths in northern Mexico are transformed into musical instruments by Reyes. “It's important to consider that many lives were taken with these weapons, as if a sort of exorcism was taking place,” says Reyes in a description of his project titled, "Disarm." The Mexican artist said he was able to choose his instruments from about 6,700 guns that were turned in or seized by the army and police in Ciudad Juarez, a city of about 1.3 million people that averaged about 10 killings a day at the height of the violence. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

    For the project titled "Disarm," artist Pedro Reyes said he was able to choose his instruments from about 6,700 guns that were turned in or seized by the army and police in Ciudad Juarez,

    a city of about 1.3 million people that averaged about 10 killings a

    day at the height of the violence. In 2010, Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas. Juarez had a murder rate about 230 per 100,000 inhabitants. The nationwide rate for the U.S. that year was 4.8.