Destroyed guns will become peace altar in front of Oakland church

Published: 2004-04-28

OAKLAND, Calif. (CNS) -- In Oakland, a community that experienced 114 homicides in 2003, parishioners at St. Elizabeth Church held a "gun bake" April 25 to destroy 13 guns that were collected in a monthlong drive. The event was sponsored by the Franciscan Justice, Peace & Integrity of Creation Office and a San Francisco nonprofit organization called Guns Into Art. Guns Into Art set up a portable blacksmith shop in the St. Elizabeth parking lot after the 10 a.m. Mass April 25. Guns were heated in a propane-fired forge to between 1,800 and 2,400 degrees and then placed on an anvil where parishioners took turns smashing them flat with a sledgehammer. "I got tired of the gun guys, where guns have all the power, so I wanted to transform the gun culture into something peaceful and put up a counter position to the people who use guns for violence," said John Ricker, executive director of Guns Into Art. Several guns that were destroyed at St. Elizabeth's will go into a peace altar that will be placed in the gardens in front of the church. Others will be welded to a steel coffin that was on display at the gun bake.

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