SEATTLE — The Seattle Police Department collected more than 700 guns during a buyback in January, and now city officials have a plan for what to do with them.
Mayor Mike McGinn is expected to announce Tuesday that they’ll be melted into bricks carrying messages of peace, and the bricks will be placed around the city.
The buyback program was announced a month after last December’s elementary school massacre in Newtown, Conn., by city leaders sick of hearing about gun violence. Private sponsors including Amazon.com contributed tens of thousands of dollars so that people could anonymously turn in their weapons for shopping cards worth up to $200.
Some 716 guns were turned in. With support from the charitable foundation of famed glass artist Dale Chihuly, they’ll be turned into bricks. The mayor plans to visit public schools around the city to hear from students about how gun violence affects them, and their messages of peace will be represented on the bricks.
