84 weapons traded in for circus tickets during gun drive

By Harriet Vaughan, The Tennessean

While some are paying cash for their UniverSoul Circus tickets, others are paying with their guns.

The Care for the Kids gun drive, a first-time effort of circus organizers, Metro police and four local pastors, got 84 guns off the streets in just two days, its participants said Wednesday. The pastors put the word out on the street that they would give five free tickets to next weekend's event to anyone who turned in a gun.

Sylvester Burton, promoter with the traveling circus, said he got the idea for the gun drive after two fatal shootings in Nashville earlier this year: a 16-year-old girl killed when a stray bullet entered her home, and a 21-year-old man shot to death after Maplewood High School's graduation ceremony.

Circus owner approved

Burton approached the circus owner, who gave him the OK to form a 20-member committee.

"As we kept beating the streets, they started coming around," Burton said at a news conference at Metro's East Precinct on Trinity Lane. "At that point, I knew we had the community behind us."

The pastors from Corinthian Baptist Church, Watson Grove Baptist Church, Galilee Baptist Church and Greater Faith Church shared stories of some people arriving in tears to trade in their guns.

The Rev. Enoch Fuzz, pastor of Corinthian Baptist Church, said he collected four sawed-off shotguns in one night. A man brought a gun that fell from his stepson's pants. He feared for the kids living in the home. A grandmother turned in a gun that she saw her grandson playing with.

"These guns were taken out of our community. We don't have to worry about no one using them in a negative way," said the Rev. Michael Joyner, pastor of Greater Faith Baptist Church. "And it's just a blessing to look and see what has taken place in our community. And we're not going to stop."

Don Aaron, spokesman for Metro police, said the guns will be held and checked to see if they have been used in any crimes. After that, they will be destroyed.

"The real lesson here is that the ministers who took the lead on this recognized that policing and making the community safer is something the entire community has to do," Nashville Mayor Karl Dean said. "It's not just something the police do. It's something our churches need to do, our business needs to do and our neighborhoods need to do. I give them a ton of credit. It was a bold step."

The UniverSoul Circus will be in the parking lot of Tennessee State University's Gentry Center on July 9-12. The tour has several more stops, and Burton said they are considering more gun drives.