One Gun Gone is an anti-gun violence art project that takes one gun off the street, turns it into art and then sells that art for funds for a gun buy-back program, taking more guns off neighborhood streets.
Several students involved in the project are planning to attend private high schools or college in the fall, and Scott Lapham, the artist behind the One Gun Gone project, found a way to help them pay for their tuition. “Education is gun violence prevention,” Lapham said.
Lapham and three collaborators designed a t-shirt that illustrates the philosophy behind the One Gun Gone program. “We want safer neighborhoods for everybody, so the hearts made sense to us,” Lapham said about the design. Hidden within the hearts are silhouettes of handguns. “We want love to crowd out violence. When we think about the anti-gun violence mission that we have, we understand that it comes down to people understanding and appreciating each other’s humanity. And that’s really about love.”
T Shirts for Tuition is raising money through mid-September to send five students — including first generation college attendees — to school. For more information on the program, or to purchase a t-shirt, go to onegungone.com