Guns to garden tools: Colorado group seeks change, healing
Associated Press
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Sharletta Evans, right, whose 3-year-old son, Casson, was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1995, helps Fred Martin, a volunteer blacksmith for the nonprofit group RAWtools, hammer a rifle barrel into a garden tool at a church in Denver, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. The Colorado Springs-based group transforms guns into garden tools and draws inspiration from the Bible verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)Sharletta Evans, whose 3-year-old, son Casson, was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1995, poses for a portrait at a church in Denver, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. Evans participated in a program run by a Colorado-Springs-based nonprofit called RAWtools, which transforms guns into garden tools. The group draws inspiration from the Bible verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)A portrait of 3-year-old Casson Xavier Evans, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in Denver in 1995, sits on a pew at a church in Denver, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. His mother, Sharletta Evans, spoke at the service and took part in a gun transformation program run by a Colorado-Springs-based nonprofit called RAWtools. The group, which melts guns in a forge and transforms them into garden tools, draws inspiration from the Bible verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)HOLD FOR STORY Chris Silkwood's disabled semi-automatic rifle sits on a workbench in Colorado Springs, Colo., Friday, Jan. 28, 2022. Silkwood donated the firearm to RAWtools, a Colorado Springs-based nonprofit organization that makes guns into garden tools and draws inspiration from the Bible verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." (Chris Silkwood via AP)Michael Emmert, a volunteer blacksmith for the nonprofit group RAWtools, puts a rifle barrel into a forge at a church in Denver, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. The Colorado Springs-based group transforms guns into garden tools and draws inspiration from the Bible verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)Fred Martin, a volunteer blacksmith for the nonprofit group RAWtools, inspects a rifle barrel that was melted in a forge and transformed into a garden tool at a church in Denver, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. The Colorado Springs-based group transforms guns into garden tools and draws inspiration from the Bible verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)Fred Martin, a volunteer blacksmith for the nonprofit group RAWtools, shapes what was a rifle barrel into a garden tool at a church in Denver, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. The Colorado Springs-based group transforms guns into garden tools and draws inspiration from the Bible verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)Sections of a rifle barrel, right, sit next to blacksmithing tools on a table at a church in Denver, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. The Colorado Springs-based group transforms guns into garden tools and draws inspiration from the Bible verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)A section of a rifle barrel is heated in a forge at a church in Denver, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. The Colorado Springs-based group transforms guns into garden tools and draws inspiration from the Bible verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)Fred Martin, a volunteer blacksmith for the nonprofit group RAWtools, puts a heated rifle barrel into a forge at a church in Denver, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. The Colorado Springs-based group transforms guns into garden tools and draws inspiration from the Bible verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)Fred Martin, a volunteer blacksmith for the nonprofit group RAWtools, hammers what was a rifle barrel into a garden tool at a church in Denver, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. The Colorado Springs-based group transforms guns into garden tools and draws inspiration from the Bible verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)A shovel and a garden mattock that were transformed from a firearm sit next to blacksmithing tools on a table at a church in Denver, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. The Colorado Springs-based group RAWtolls transforms guns into garden tools and draws inspiration from the Bible verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
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Sharletta Evans, right, whose 3-year-old son, Casson, was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1995, helps Fred Martin, a volunteer blacksmith for the nonprofit group RAWtools, hammer a rifle barrel into a garden tool at a church in Denver, Sunday, Jan. 16, 2022. The Colorado Springs-based group transforms guns into garden tools and draws inspiration from the Bible verse, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." (AP Photo/Thomas Peipert)
