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For nearly a decade, I've been active in gun violence prevention advocacy, focused mainly on educating adults about secure firearm storage through the Be SMART for Kids program. For years, I'd dreamed of holding a gun buyback event to help reduce the number of firearms sitting in homes, waiting to fall into the wrong hands. I reached out to churches and secular organizations again and again, but I kept hearing the same thing: gun violence is too divisive a topic. I'd started to think that dream was dead.
Then a brief conversation with Pastor Joanne Sizoo at Grace Presbyterian Church in Fort Mill changed everything. I'd seen the Gun Violence Prevention toolkit from the 2024 PCUSA General Assembly, which included both Be SMART and Guns to Gardens. I asked Pastor Joanne if we could hold a Guns to Gardens event at Grace — and she said yes.
Thanks to your generosity to our presbytery, we were able to hold that event, resulting in the safe surrender of multiple firearms from owners who no longer wanted them in their homes. It made those homes and our community safer, and it built a deeper fellowship among the volunteers who helped make it happen. The event gave greater visibility to the gun violence prevention movement and offered a tangible way to help reduce gun violence. Thank you for your support!
Joanne Walker
South Carolina Lead
BeSMART for Kids
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