Guns to Gardens: Gun Buyback Program
"And they shall forge their swords into plowshares." — Isaiah 2:4
SAVE, in association with St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Oakland
NEXT GUN BUYBACK: November 14, 2026
St. Benedict's Catholic Church, 2245 82nd Ave, Oakland
SAVE supports Guns to Gardens, a community gun buyback program run in association with St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Oakland. The program is devoted to getting firearms out of homes, where they pose serious risks to children and to everyone else in the household — and to reforging those weapons into tools for growing food and flowers.
Our most recent buyback
On April 18, 2026, volunteers from Bay Area faith congregations worked alongside the Oakland Police Department to collect 98 firearms, including AK-style rifles, an AR-15, handguns, and two Uzi submachine guns. The event, held in the parking lot of At Thy Word Ministries in East Oakland, was the sixth Guns to Gardens buyback.
Firearms are accepted with no questions asked. Participants receive Target gift cards worth up to $300, along with garden tools forged from weapons surrendered at earlier events. Every serial number is checked by OPD to confirm the firearm wasn't stolen, and the weapon is then disabled. Rifles and shotguns are reforged into garden trowels and tillers.
A firearm in the home dramatically increases the risk of suicide, homicide, and accidental injury to household members. Guns kept at home are also a prime target for theft, after which they are often used in other crimes.
Each buyback costs roughly $10,000 in gift cards and a stipend for the blacksmith. Mayor Barbara Lee has encouraged Guns to Gardens to hold an event every quarter, and the program is seeking additional support from the city and from donors to make that possible.
Photos by Andrew Hawthorn and Cara Meredith.
Meet our blacksmith
John Colle Rogers
To John, forging these guns into garden tools is spiritual — literally transforming a weapon that hurts people into a tool for raising food and flowers.
"If you do a thousand hours of work, you save one life, that's it — that's what it's worth."
THANK YOU JOHN!
How you can help
VOLUNTEER at the next event. Contact Paula Hawthorn at paula.hawthorn@gmail.com
SPREAD THE WORD. Encourage donations, volunteers, and gun drop-off at our next event on November 14, 2026.
Donations to support the Buy Back:
