At its second annual gun buyback, the Guilford Police Department (GPD) collected 198 rifles, shotguns, handguns, and pellet guns on Sept. 26, more than double the number that were turned in last year.

Sponsored and funded by the Song Strong Foundation, the event called for anyone with firearms that were unwanted, unused, or unable to be stored safely to bring them to the GPD, where they could be turned in or they could obtain safes or locks. Twelve gun safes and 22 trigger locks were distributed.

Offering cash for unused or unwanted guns, which are destroyed (some are cut up and turned into gardening implements on site), is something a handful of police departments and other organizations have done in Connecticut in recent years. The idea is to make sure people can anonymously and safely turn over weapons and make sure they won’t fall into the wrong hands or cause a tragic accident, according to GPD Chief Butch Hyatt, while also offering a nominal cash payout for each gun.

Hyatt said the strong response showed that locals are taking the gun safety message seriously.

“People are not only taking advantage of getting rid of guns that they no longer want...but they’re also being responsible by taking safes or locks to safely store the guns they [have],” Hyatt said.

The first event, held only weeks after the passage of Ethan’s Law last year, saw a total of 83 weapons turned in by shoreline residents. This year’s haul significantly exceeded other town’s buybacks over the last couple years.

A buyback event in Hartford received 76 guns last year, and another saw 42 guns turned in to Norwalk Police. 125 guns were surrendered in New Haven back in 2018.

Guilford teen Ethan Song was killed by an unsecured handgun at a friend’s house in 2018, and his parents Mike and Kristen Song founded the Ethan Miller Song Foundation, or Song Strong, to advocate and lobby for gun safety.

Hyatt said he thought “the message got out pretty well,” with the event in Guilford, which was open to anyone who wanted to dispose of a weapon, not just town residents.

Because the event was anonymous to encourage more participation, Hyatt said he couldn’t guess at how many people came from outside of Guilford, but believes there were some.

“We send it out Facebook, and Song Strong also goes through Facebook and they have a very large group that touches their Facebook. So the message does go out,” Hyatt said.

The United States has by far the highest rate of private gun ownership in the world, and higher levels of gun violence than almost any other developed country. Research has shown mixed results as far as the efficacy of a voluntary buyback program to curb violence, particularly gun crimes, though an analysis by Harvard University this year offered a more positive outlook on the initiative as part of broader educational and outreach efforts.

Ninety handguns—the category most likely to be used in violent crimes and suicides—were turned in on Sept. 26, according to the GPD

GPD collected a very wide variety of weapons, ranging from early 20th-century Army-issued pistols to working assault rifles, some potentially worth a couple thousand dollars, Hyatt said.

Though some of the weapons might have historical or financial value, GPD will ensure they are all decommissioned and destroyed.

Swords to Ploughshares

Handguns must be sent to a special department run by the state to ensure they weren’t used in any crimes, according to Hyatt, but the long guns are handed over to an organization called Swords to Plowshares, run by retired Episcopal bishop Jim Curry.

After being sawed up, the usable metal from these guns is heated in a forge and pounded on an anvil in a very traditional blacksmithing process to form functional trowels or mattocks used in gardens in the area.

Curry and the organization’s other volunteers are mostly self-taught, Curry said, and their forge is portable, which allows them to travel and work wherever guns are being turned in.

The mission and the imagery of Swords to Plowshares comes from a passage in the Bible (Isaiah 2:4) and tradition “going back 2,500 years,” Curry said, and imagines creating a better world through turning instruments of death into tools that cultivate life—though he made sure to emphasize that these particular weapons are not necessarily used for war and violence.

“Most of the guns we’ve gotten in are from respectable gun owners who would never think of that gun as a potential for death,” Curry said. “On the other hand…[Ethan Song] was shot and killed with an unsecured and unsafely stored handgun. So they’re dangerous no matter what.”

Curry said that for him, turning weapons into garden implements is part of a ministry of faith, saying that the world “doesn’t have to be like it is.”

“I’ve never had a more powerful experience in my life than the first gun I sawed apart, knowing it could never be used to hurt someone,” he said.

Hyatt reminded residents that they can turn in unwanted guns to the GPD at any time, though they will not receive any compensation. The GPD can be reached at 203-453-8061.