“They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation; they will train for war no more.
Everyone will sit under their own vine and fig tree.
No one shall make them afraid.”

Our Share the Plate offering for September is for RAWtools, a nonprofit started in 2013 by Mike Martin of Colorado Springs.

In the book Beating Guns, co-authored with Shane Claiborne, Mike tells this story:
One of my friends was a gun owner who began to question why we have assault rifles on our streets. He owned a number of guns, and one of them was an AK-47. After the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hood Elementary, which claimed the lives of twenty kids and six adults, he donated the AK-47 so that it could be destroyed and repurposed. My father and I met with a blacksmith and learned how to create garden tools from that AK-47, and RAWtools was born. Five years later he donated his handgun.

Do you know why the nonprofit is called RAWtools?  RAW is WAR turned around. There is much more to RAWtools than turning firearms into tools or beautiful things. RAWtools works with other organizations to prevent gun violence and armed conflict, to “disarm people’s hearts, restore peace and cultivate justice.” According to the website, “We offer resources, skills, and practices to handle conflict in creative ways, both as violence prevention and as healing processes after violence occurs.... RAWpower Workshops: Tools for a Third Way” can include: Restorative Justice, De-Escalation, Bystander Intervention, Circle Process, Open Dialogue, and Mental Health First Aid.”
 
On September 9, Mike Martin will manage a safe surrender in Plymouth’s parking lot. The evening before, September 8, Mike will speak to us about the work of RAWtools. We have also invited other groups involved in some aspects of gun violence prevention: Adam Shore, Executive Director of Colorado Ceasefire, will tell us about their advocacy and about the revised Extreme Risk Protection Order legislation in Colorado; Scott Smith, Executive Director of the Alliance for Suicide Prevention of Larimer County, will explain their work locally (did you know that most lives lost in Colorado to gun violence are suicides?); and Matt Wetenkamp of the University of Colorado Anschutz Firearms and Injury Prevention Initiative group will speak to us about the important work being done there in research and firearm injury prevention. Matt is a gun owner and veteran. 

Societal efforts to curtail gun violence in this country are growing, and in that growth, groups are learning the importance of cooperation and collaboration between partners in these efforts. As a church community, Plymouth is being supported in holding our September events by the United Church of Christ national organization, by the Longmont United Church of Christ, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Fort Collins, and Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins. 

Thanks to those of you who have volunteered to help with these two events. If you have not signed up and still wish to help or donate, please contact me using the form on this page (which goes to me). Everyone can help by spreading the word to friends, acquaintances and relatives about the community event and about the opportunity to safely relieve themselves and their homes from unwanted firearms by contributing them for transformation on September 9 between 10am and noon. 

Thanks for all that you do to make the world a better place.
Anne Thompson

As a person who loves to agonize, I sometimes want to scream. “What is it you don’t understand about the ‘Thou shall not kill’ commandment"?  I’m also a person who loves to analyze, so I get that the translation should probably be "Thou shall not murder." I also understand that, in order for an organic entity to live, another organic entity must die. I include plants in that tenet, by the way. 

My scream would be directed at those who favor mass possession of guns. Exactly what is a “gun”?
a weapon incorporating a metal tube from which bullets, shells, or other missiles are propelled by explosive force, typically making a characteristic loud, sharp noise.

Sounds pretty innocuous. But what is a “weapon”?
a thing designed or used for inflicting bodily harm or physical damage
Ah. As Shakespeare noted, there’s the rub.

According to TRACE, a website devoted to “investigating gun violence in America,” approximately 465 million guns have been produced in the United States since 1899. Assuming a 1% attrition rate per year, there would be about 352 million guns in circulation. That’s more than people. These statistics are elusive because research in this area has been strongly opposed by the gun lobby. 

It's a dilemma. Gun violence in our country increasingly has become a public issue. Although the second amendment of our constitution includes the words “militia” and “arms,” the word “gun” is not present in that text. The intention of the second amendment seems clear; yet clarity seems lacking in the means by which this public right is to be protected. Since late December of 1791, a number of the factors which created the impetus for this amendment have changed. Enormous improvements have been made in the technology of weaponry. Threats to national security are much broader than face-to-face encounters between individuals or groups of citizens and our adversaries.

So why do we need so many guns in the United States? Guns are plentiful, relatively easy to obtain and use. But many people use guns to solve problems that could and should be solved by peaceful methods. The website for RAWtools includes this paragraph:

“With less than 5 percent of the world’s population, the people of the US own nearly half the world’s guns. America also holds the record for the most gun deaths—homicide, suicide, and accidental gun deaths—at around ninety a day and about thirty-three thousand per year. Some people say it’s a heart problem. Others say it’s a gun problem. The authors of Beating Guns believe it’s both.”

This is what I believe. It is the impetus behind Plymouth’s decision to collaborate with Longmont UCC, Moms Demand Action, and several other groups to help develop a larger community of people in two events on September 8 and 9. On September 8, we will host RAWtools and other groups working toward gun safety and ending gun violence in an evening of thoughtful reflection and celebration of life. The next morning, September 9, Plymouth will be the site of a practical opportunity for safe surrender of guns, those that are unwanted and/or unusable, by members of our community. 

May we find safer, better paths. 

Anne Thompson