Sims shreds guns for art and peace

USA – Around 930 illegal guns were shredded at a Jersey City recycling plant operated by Sims Metal Management and the fragments will be melted down to cast a Peace Angel statue to be erected in New York City as an anti-violence emblem.

New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly has donated the illegal guns to the Art of Peace Charitable Trust which was founded in 1992 and pursues peace-building endeavours through art, youth leadership programmes, job training and career placement. The first statue will be five feet tall and will be placed at the city’s One Police Plaza; others are in the planning stage – including a 35-foot-tall monument which will require an estimated 100 000 guns and a national campaign.
Also being incorporated in the metal for the statues are the non-radioactive, stainless steel casings of nuclear missiles in order to help with rust-proofing.