OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) — Oakland’s Guns to Gardens program held its fourth annual gun buyback event on Saturday, collecting 52 firearms, including two AK-47s and an AR-15, in a bid to reduce gun violence.
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The event took place in the parking lot of Oakland’s Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, where community members were encouraged to turn in firearms in exchange for gift cards and gardening tools. The buyback program, supported by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and the Oakland Police Department, aims to transform surrendered weapons into tools for growth.
Photo: KRON4 News.
“It’s like a big weight to have this kind of gun out of the house,” said Berkeley resident Ben Simon-Thomas, who participated in the event.
Andrew Hawthorn — whose son initiated the Guns to Gardens program as an Eagle Scout project — said “The effect on the community is almost transformational.”
The Guns to Gardens initiative, now in its fourth year, offers up to $300 in gift cards and a gardening tool crafted from the surrendered firearms. The program’s unique approach aims to repurpose weapons into peaceful tools, drawing inspiration from biblical analogies of forging swords into plowshares.
Photo: KRON4 News.
Despite facing criticism from some community members and gun-rights groups, Hawthorn defends the program’s effectiveness, arguing that removing even a few guns from circulation can prevent them from falling into the wrong hands.
“We have people who find guns in their backyards, a bunch of old guns leftover from their grandfathers, guns that have been lying around their homes for many years,” added Hawthorn. “All it takes is for one or two of those guns to fall into the wrong hands. This is our community. We can’t think about these things as, ‘Oh well those guys live on the other side of the world.’”
Cynthia Davis, a long-time Oakland resident, turned in her late husband’s gun, expressing her heartbreak over the recent violence in her community. “I was talking to one of my girlfriends and I said, ‘What happened to Oakland?’ It was a beautiful place to live, but now…,” said Cynthia Davis. “It’s just senseless what happened. I can’t even begin to tell you how I feel, how hurt I am, somebody who is trying to do something for the community.”
Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee attended the event, highlighting its importance following recent shootings in the city, including the killing of beloved football coach John Beam and the shooting of a student at Skyline High School.
“I was told that this morning the first gun was an AK-47 — a weapon of war — so there are many areas that we have to address and ways to address gun violence,” said Mayor Lee. “This is one of them.”
Watch the full report from KRON4’s Lindsey Ford in the video player above.
All facts in this report were gathered by journalists employed by KRON4. Artificial intelligence tools were used to reformat from a broadcast script into a news article for our website. This report was edited and fact-checked by KRON4 staff before being published.
Lindsey Ford
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