{"id":49445,"date":"2025-07-08T19:11:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T19:11:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/49445\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T19:11:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T19:11:17","slug":"fort-worth-pastors-launch-program-to-turn-guns-into-garden-tools-for-victims-of-violence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/49445\/","title":{"rendered":"Fort Worth pastors launch program to turn guns into garden tools for victims of violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Annettra Hicks knows firsthand the toll that gun violence in Fort Worth takes on its victims \u2014 and how hard it can be to find resources to heal.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hicks, 40, has suffered the loss of family members and close friends who fell victim to gun violence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In April, she wore a sweatshirt that belonged to her late friend Prada Vey Da Prince<\/a>, a Fort Worth musician who died by gun violence in 2020. She wanted to feel close to her friend as she joined a group of local pastors and churchgoers in marching down Mississippi Avenue in southeast Fort Worth to raise awareness and honor those who died by gun violence along the street.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The coalition of about 20, led by Pastor Kyev Tatum of New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church, pushed an empty coffin about a mile down Mississippi, stopping at intersections where gun violence occurred to pray for victims. Organizers of the effort told the Fort Worth Report they were taking matters into their own hands to combat gun violence and address the mental toll it takes on communities of color in Fort Worth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just something we have not done well,\u201d Tatum said. \u201cThe faith community is best positioned to do the response of trauma care in communities once they are trauma informed \u2026 then they can respond with the compassion that they\u2019re commissioned to respond with.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Pastors, churchgoers and community leaders march down Mississippi Avenue, pushing an empty coffin in remembrance of the Black and brown residents who died by gun violence along the street on April 11, 2025, in southeast Fort Worth. (Cecilia Lenzen | Fort Worth Report)<\/p>\n

Their march was one of the first steps taken to launch a local chapter of the national Guns to Gardens program, which aims to convert unwanted firearms into garden tools for survivors of gun violence. The initiative, facilitated by the Colorado-based organization called RAWTools, aims to reduce gun violence in different neighborhoods, some with low life expectancy, by encouraging voluntary gun disposal in exchange for gift cards.<\/p>\n

Volunteers within the program use a chop saw to dismantle unwanted guns and then use the metal to build garden tools and art. The program works with Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, a nonprofit organization that provides required training programs for the Guns to Gardens volunteers to learn about the workings of the program and firearm safety. It also offers gun violence prevention resources and outreach to local congregations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would save so many lives,\u201d Hicks said of the program\u2019s value. \u201cTo save a life, and give somebody an opportunity is huge, and it\u2019s even bigger for the person. It\u2019s something that they\u2019re going to take with them forever.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

History of Guns to Gardens\u00a0<\/p>\n

The national Guns to Gardens program was started by a Mennonite pastor, Mike Martin, who felt a call after the 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting to become a blacksmith and forge unwanted guns into garden tools.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Martin later founded RAWtools as a nonprofit network of blacksmiths across the nation and joined forces with theologians and faith organizations across the country to christen the Guns to Gardens project.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2022, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) became the first denomination to commend Guns to Gardens as a faithful witness for congregations, according to a press release from the denomination<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A Guns to Gardens program exists in Dallas<\/a>, but one is needed for Tarrant County, particularly in the southeast part of Fort Worth, Tatum said. Gun violence in Fort Worth\u2019s 76104 ZIP code, where Tatum grew up, is \u201chorrific,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Fort Worth Police Department reports 24 fatal shootings in the ZIP code 76104 from January 2020 to June 15, 2025, according to a Fort Worth Report analysis of police data obtained through a public information request. That\u2019s about 5.7% of the total 424 fatalities reported.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the same time frame, the ZIP codes in Fort Worth that faced the highest rates of gun violence fatalities were:\u00a0<\/p>\n