When a lawyer friend questioned why he owned an AK47 after the Sandy Hook tragedy that claimed 26 lives, he reached out to Mennonite pastor Mike Martin with an unusual request: help destroy it and transform it into something that gives life instead of taking it. Together with his father and a local blacksmith, Martin heated the weapon to over 2,000 degrees and forged the metal into a shovel and a rake, sparking the beginning of RAWtools, a nonprofit that has since destroyed and repurposed more than 6,000 guns into garden tools. The organization now operates with a national network of hundreds of volunteers, blacksmiths, woodworkers, and artists who pick up firearms from donors’ homes, often transforming heirloom weapons into multiple garden tools that honor family members without perpetuating violence.
The work has become particularly meaningful for families affected by gun suicide, which accounts for 58% of all gun deaths in America and reached a record high of almost 27,600 deaths in 2024. Martin, who lost his own mother, watches as survivors experience palpable relief when weapons are destroyed, their bodies releasing tension as they finally breathe easier and open up to tell their stories. After the 2022 Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, community members donated inherited firearms for the healing of the LGBTQ community, and Martin led queer youth in creating art and tools from the pieces. While critics might question the impact of removing guns when a new one is manufactured every three seconds, Martin believes every firearm taken out of circulation reduces risk, every event creates space for healing, and the act of destruction becomes an act of creation that changes not just metal but people’s hearts.
