During his fourteen years as the Bishop Suffragan of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, Jim Curry dealt with many community issues affecting urban areas. He and several of his colleagues had been involved in gun control initiatives over the years, but when Sandy Hook happened in 2012, their mission took on a new intensity. “We heard about a group based in Colorado Springs called RAWtools that turned guns into garden tools, which are then donated to community gardens. We wanted to start a similar program, so we asked them to teach us blacksmithing skills,” Bishop Curry, who is now retired, recalls. Along with Pina Violano, Steve Yanovsky, and the Reverend Bob Bergner an Episcopal priest from Hamden CT, Bishop Curry, co-founded Swords to Plowshares (S2P) Northeast in 2019 with the mission of reducing gun violence in the community.
Working closely with local police departments, S2P Northeast invites people to relinquish their firearms, usually through gun buyback events. To ensure that they are not part of any evidence trains, the guns are vetted by the police force. “Most of the guns we receive are ones that people decide they no longer want in their homes and are just lying around as a potential threat for suicide, domestic violence, or harming children,” says Bishop Curry.
Once the guns are dismantled by the police, the remaining pieces, specifically the barrels, are handed over to Bishop Curry and his team. The process of turning these pieces into trowels, hoes, and cultivators is an age-old art that takes time and patience. Bishop Curry uses a self-contained, propane-fueled forge that he can transport for on-site demonstrations. “We are an educating force – talking to schools, universities, churches – inviting people to experience the art of blacksmithing and to play a part in repurposing these weapons,” says Bishop Curry.
The forge heats the metal to a fiery 2200 degrees Fahrenheit. Once hot, the metal is coaxed into the desired shape with the use of a hammer and anvil. “The first thing we do is flatten the barrel,” says Bishop Curry. After a few passes, the bore (the opening the bullet passes through) is closed, so it can never be used as a weapon again. Siobhan Thompson, a volunteer with S2P, says, “There is something very cathartic about hitting the metal with the hammer – it’s the power of transformation.”
After the metal is flattened, the pointier end of the anvil, called the horn, is used to shape the tool. “The anvil is an incredible invention that goes back thousands of years,” says Bishop Curry. 
Once the desired shape is achieved, the final step is to create a hole for the handle. “That’s the fun part,” he says, “because you really get to hit it hard.” The handles for the tools are purchased from local hardware stores. “The wood on the stock tends to be too lightweight and thin to be utilized for a handle,” he says. The finished garden tool is coated in Rustolium and polyurethane for protection before being distributed to local community gardens. “It really is a full-circle movement. We’re taking an instrument of potential harm (and defense), destroying it, transforming it, and offering it as an instrument of hope and growth,” says Bishop Curry.
During the demonstrations, S2P Northeast also gives people a chance to create a metal heart from sawed-off pieces of rifle barrels. These unique pieces of jewelry can bring a sense of comfort to those who have been impacted by gun violence.
Swords to Plowshares Northeast recently received a grant from the CT Dept of Health to expand their work. They are initiating a program to educate people to become trainers in blacksmithing. “There’s opportunity to extend this into population segments such as individuals transitioning back into society after serving prison terms,” says Thompson, who is involved in the educational outreach of the program. The training program will include people who are part of MERGE, a re-entry program for those who have been incarcerated “We are looking to hire some of these individuals to be mentor instructors to young-adult paid interns,” says Bishop Curry.
S2P Northeast is hoping that more people will learn about their program and get involved. “This program positively impacts people and the community in so many ways,” says Bishop Curry.
To find out more information, please go to http://s2pnortheast.org •
