On November 18th the Oakland Police Department, jointly with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Mt. Zion Baptist Church, and other community organizations, will hold their third Oakland gun buyback event, “Guns to Gardens.” Guns to Gardens encourages Oakland area residents to surrender firearms, no questions asked, in exchange for gift cards worth up to $300, plus a garden tool that was hand-forged from a gun that was previously surrendered. In addition, for every gun turned in, a contribution will be made to Mt. Zion’s program to feed the homeless.
Our State is awash in guns; in California alone, 4.2 million citizens own a total of over 20 million guns. Oakland police report that, so far this year, there has been a 61% year-over-year increase in gun incidents. In the United States as a whole, there are far more guns than people, and over 550 mass shootings have occurred so far this year. Shockingly, one in six Americans has personally witnessed gun violence. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 20,958 people were killed by guns in the U.S. in 2021.
Having a gun in the home triples the risk of a suicide there. Suicides make up three-fifths of all gun deaths, and an American dies by gun suicide every 22 minutes. In addition, a recent study found that a gun kept in the home is significantly more likely to be involved in an accidental shooting, criminal assault, or suicide attempt than in self-defense (which is often cited as a justification for having a gun in the home).
We must not remain passive in the face of the violence that is tearing our communities and families apart. We are not helpless; we must do everything we can, individually and collectively, to reduce the violence. Every gun taken off our streets has the potential to save both lives and untold misery and grief.
If you or someone you know owns a gun, please take advantage of this opportunity to surrender it at Guns to Gardens. The event will be held at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 1203 Willow Street in Oakland, from noon to 4 pm on Saturday, November 18.
Connie Harden
On behalf of Guns to Gardens
yousef • Nov 13, 2023 at 8:47 AM
stop censoring comments
James A. Farmer • Nov 12, 2023 at 5:13 PM
These socialist turn in guns for cash scams are predicated upon political deceit, anti-gun class warfare, and promote victimhood via the almighty nanny state! They have absolutely nothing to do with reducing suicides, death, accidents including firearms, or making our communities safer! Any merchant or merchants who prostitutes themselves to this deceitful “LBJ/KGB” style anti-gun racket by offering gift cards for gun turn ins are treasonous to our republic, and likewise deserve to be boycotted, picketed, and ran out of business! This is comparable to a 1918 Bolshevik propaganda poster urging peasants to surrender their personal weapons, including sharpened farm implements over to the murderous Cheka: the original Soviet Secret Police established in 1917-18 under Lenin and Trotsky. Anyone who participates in this anti-gun deception is surrendering more than their firearms. They are willfully surrendering their soul, personal autonomy, independence. and sovereignty to socialism and slavery!
yousef • Nov 13, 2023 at 9:34 AM
well said.