Help "Guns Into Plowshares" Find A New Home

Washington Post (photo by John Kelly)

I still remember how impressed I was seeing the gigantic "Guns Into Plowshares" project artist and sculptor Esther Augsburger and her son Michael were creating outside Kreiders Machine Shop just west of town.

Upon completion, this massive four-ton piece--with handguns welded all over it that had been confiscated by DC police--was moved to the grounds of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, where it was officially dedicated in 1997. Some time later, due to some renovations being done at the facility, it was temporarily put in storage and then set up at a less desirable location at the police department's evidence control building in the southeast part of the city.

The Metropolitan Police Department later expressed an interest in having the piece moved back to its original location, but that property is now up for sale, and the MPD is gifting the sculpture back to its creator.

On Tuesday, March 7, there will be a meeting at VMRC's Village Hall at 7 p.m. in which you are invited to bring your suggestions and questions for Esther Augsburger regarding the history and the future of the Guns Into Plowshares project.

Please come in honor of a work that needs to become ever more visible in a time like this.

Here's a link to more information: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/16/AR2011011604146.html