From guns to garden tools: Students turn guns into garden art with firearms from police buy-back program
Albuquerque police — alongside local group New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence — have hosted a lot of gun buyback events. But where do these guns go?
Albuquerque police — alongside local group New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence — have hosted a lot of gun buyback events. But where do these guns go?
Albuquerque police — alongside local group New Mexicans to Prevent Gun Violence — have hosted a lot of gun buyback events. But where do these guns go?
Guns, once a tool that could be used to harm, are being given new life as tools of creation through gun buy-back programs in Albuquerque, New Mexico. These events not only remove dangerous weapons from the streets but also transform them into meaningful works of art.
Judeah Piro, a dedicated member of Robert F. Kennedy Charter High School welding group, joined the program a few years ago.
Under the guidance of instructor Robert Baade, Judeah and the rest of the members started to view guns from a completely different perspective. What once were weapons are now seen as raw materials for creativity.
"They look at the gun pieces differently now," Baade explains. "When they're taking apart pistols, they search for unique parts that might make a perfect nose for a sculpture of a bug."
The gun is cut down into workable pieces for the high school students, then they fire the metal and turn the material into garden art and tools. They even use the stock, or the wooden part of the firearm for the handles of the garden tools. For Judeah and the group, this project is about more than just creating art.
“It's just kind of like clay,” Piro said. “Just make it kind of this item to work with instead of it just being something that took away a life or may of took away a life.”
Judeah's personal connection to gun violence adds a layer to his work. He lost two friends — brothers who were his classmates — were shot and killed off campus just a year ago.
"And they both died in their front yard," Baade said. "And so that's a family that's part of the RFK (school) family."
"It just moved my encouragement, my motivation to help out with the danger of guns being on the street, especially in our community," said Piro.
Even those who didn’t personally know the brothers feel the profound impact of the project. Shaine Bechdol, another group member, shares how welding has taught him about the significance of decisions.
"Patience," he says. "You can make a wrong decision at any second — either shooting the gun or changing the gun. You could mess up either way."