Mennonite blacksmith Michael Martin is taking gun buyback programs to the next level, turning tools that kill into tools that grow. He refashions guns into garden implements, and invites survivors of gun violence to participate in the hope that they gain some comfort from the symbolic transformations, according to a November 6, 2018 New York Times article.
The article quotes research from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health on the link between gun ownership and suicide, and describes efforts by the Schools’ Harvard Injury Control Research Center to encourage gun trainers to speak with clients about gun safety. David Hemenway, professor of health policy and the center’s co-director, told the New York Times that “a big part of [public health’s] past successes has been changing the symbols,” including making smoking and drunk driving less socially acceptable. The same could happen with guns. “Perceptions change,” Hemenway said, “and you never know where the tipping points are.”
Read the New York Times article: Melt Thy Rifles Into Garden Tools
Learn more
Uncommon Ground (Harvard Public Health)
Suicide prevention fight moving into gun country (Harvard Chan School news)