Skip to content
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Menu
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Happy News

Pastor DESTROYS 6,000 Guns To Create Something Beautiful

When a lawyer friend questioned why he owned an AK47 after the Sandy Hook tragedy that claimed 26 lives, he reached out to Mennonite pastor Mike Martin with an unusual request: help destroy it and transform it into something that gives life instead of taking it. Together with his father and a local blacksmith, Martin heated the weapon to over 2,000 degrees and forged the metal into a shovel and a rake, sparking the beginning of RAWtools, a nonprofit that has since destroyed and repurposed more than 6,000 guns into garden tools. The organization now operates with a national network of hundreds of volunteers, blacksmiths, woodworkers, and artists who pick up firearms from donors’ homes, often transforming heirloom weapons into multiple garden tools that honor family members without perpetuating violence.

The work has become particularly meaningful for families affected by gun suicide, which accounts for 58% of all gun deaths in America and reached a record high of almost 27,600 deaths in 2024. Martin, who lost his own mother, watches as survivors experience palpable relief when weapons are destroyed, their bodies releasing tension as they finally breathe easier and open up to tell their stories. After the 2022 Club Q shooting in Colorado Springs, community members donated inherited firearms for the healing of the LGBTQ community, and Martin led queer youth in creating art and tools from the pieces. While critics might question the impact of removing guns when a new one is manufactured every three seconds, Martin believes every firearm taken out of circulation reduces risk, every event creates space for healing, and the act of destruction becomes an act of creation that changes not just metal but people’s hearts.

PrevPreviousHow One Device Is Solving The Water Crisis With Air
NextTurning Crime Scene Glass Into FashionNext

Recent Articles

Happy News

This Award Show Is Finally Returning Soon

February 7, 2026

Billboard Women in Music is returning in 2026 to celebrate another year of women’s excellence in the music industry, with the annual awards show taking place at The Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles to recognize the bold vision, global influence and artistic excellence of women transforming music across all genres.

Read More
Happy News

McDonald’s Brings Back Most Requested Happy Meal Toy

February 7, 2026

McDonald’s announced it is bringing back the Changeables Happy Meal featuring nostalgic toys originally launched in 1987 that transform from McDonald’s menu items like French fries into robots and dinosaurs, marking the return of what the company calls “the most requested” Happy Meal toy from the past. The Changeables officially

Read More
Happy News

Fourth Graders Get Music Lesson From Rihanna’s Husband

February 7, 2026

A$AP Rocky headed back to a Harlem elementary school to teach kids a thing or two about rap for the Wednesday episode of Celebrity Substitute, where Mr. Mayers’ class was in session and fourth graders got a crash course in hip hop from one of the neighborhood’s most famous success

Read More
« Previous Next »
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2026 HappyNews.