Guns for gardening tools: OPD and Guns to Gardens host gun buyback event

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Oakland Police Department, alongside nonprofit Guns to Gardens, hosted a gun buyback event on Saturday seeking to exchange the deadly weapons for gardening tools, A’s tickets, gift cards and other items in an effort to curb gun violence. 

The guns recovered by the program will be made into metal gardening tools that Oaklanders can use to improve the city. 

Guns to Gardens is a national program that takes firearms and turns them into gardening tools, art, jewelry and other items. So far this year Guns to Gardens has hosted similar events in Albuquerque, Aurora, Colo., Columbus, Ohio, Madison, Wisc., and many other cities. 

Local city leaders say that gun buyback programs help make Oakland a bit safer. 

"What's most important is every gun that is taken off the street is a gun that is not mishandled, potentially taking a life, and it’s a bullet that is not flying in the neighborhood," said Lauren Taylor, former Oakland City Council member. "That's what this is about, taking away these weapons of destruction and turning them into tools of growth and healing."

At a similar buyback event in Oakland last year, more than 130 firearms were collected and turned into gardening tools.