The organization is called Guns to Gardens, and the Denver chapter was created after the King Soopers shooting in Boulder back in 2021. Since then, they’ve disposed of hundreds of weapons, potentially saving hundreds of lives.

The group held an event Saturday at Most Precious Blood Catholic Church in Denver.

The volunteers run a well-organized drive-thru-style operation where people can hand over their guns, no questions asked. They watch as the guns are destroyed on-site by a saw.

“We take it to the saw station, where it’s destroyed, according to ATF legal guidelines,” said Michael Martin, the founder of RAWtools, the organization Guns to Gardens is under. “Then once it’s destroyed, the person turning it in there, they’re just off to the side in their car, they’re able to leave, and they get a gift card as a thank you.”

For retired schoolteacher Rita Niblack, every gun accepted is potentially a life saved. Now retired, she dedicates her time to making Denver safer.

“People bring firearms for different reasons, and one of them is- they have children in their home, and they no longer want these,” Niblack said. “We take firearms from people who say, ‘I have a family member with dementia, I don’t want this in my house anymore.’ We have had people who brought us a firearm that was used for suicide of a family member, and they want to see it cut up so that it can’t do harm to others.”

While volunteers pack up, the work is far from over for Martin. A seasoned blacksmith, he’ll later transform the guns into gardening tools or art.

“The idea of turning ‘swords to plowshares’ is what sparked a lot of this,” Martin said. “Turning it into something that’s going to cultivate life or bring joy to somebody’s life, like jewelry or something else, art is really meaningful. And everybody here today, we had over 50 volunteers that are a piece of that.”

Niblack wears a piece of that art around her neck. The heart, formed from a gun, sends an impactful message.

“I wear this because I want to remember how many hearts have been crushed by gun violence and keep them close to my heart as I do this work,” she said.

Martin estimates that there have been around 2,500 to 3,000 guns turned in within the Denver Metro area since they started these events back in 2021.