Memphis church saw success turning guns into garden tools, hope event continues in 2025

In February, a Memphis church hosted a safe-surrender event where people could turn over firearms in exchange for Kroger gift cards.

The event came just two months after Memphis reached an all-time high number of homicides in 2023, with gun violence leaving even more people injured.

The idea behind the event was to remove firearms from people who wanted to get rid of them, hence eliminating the possibility of them being stolen and used in crimes, and then turn them into functioning gardening tools.

The event was hosted by Evergreen Presbyterian Church and Rev. Patrick Harley, the church's pastor, said he and other volunteers were "blown away" by the participation, which resulted in almost 80 firearms being surrendered.

"We were afraid we may only receive a few guns," Harley told The Commercial Appeal. "Often, when other groups around the country have hosted their first safe surrender, they may get 12-20 guns. We would've counted 10 as a success. We were blown away. During the event, volunteers had to make three different runs to the store for more gift cards, and another run to the store to buy a fourth saw. We had a line of cars around the block, and we had to open an hour and a half early."

In late April, the parts from the deconstructed firearms that were turned into gardening tools were put on display and sold. In total, Harley said 22 items were sold, with plans for some of the remaining parts to be turned into something else in the future.

Turning the surrendered guns into something new, however, presents a challenge for the metal-workers, he said.

"The only major obstacle on this end is that creating something out of guns can take three to five times longer for metal workers than using one new raw material due to the variety of alloys in a single gun," he said. "There's still a big bin of gun parts waiting to be created into something new — and they will be, soon enough."

In line with the unexpected participation, Harley said the community has met the concept with a mixture of "enthusiasm, excitement, curiosity and gratitude."

"[There were] some questions and some criticism, but usually, after some conversation, even those folks come around," he added.

The sale raised over $4,500 for the group's next event, which is currently being planned for February.

At the surrender event, Harley said over $6,000 in Kroger gift cards were given in exchang for firearms.

"We wanted to offer some form of gifts as 'thank-yous,' and in this area, a Kroger gift card can go to food, household supplies and gas," Harley said. "We felt like there were too many concerns with offering cash, but a Kroger gift card felt like something that was flexible and desirable enough to be a good 'thank you.'"

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at [email protected], or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis church turns dozens of guns into garden tools, wants to continue