Giving Compass' Take:

• Fast Company reports on how a nonprofit group is helping to create replicas of Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd's knotted gun sculpture using confiscated firearms to make precious metal.

• How might this help influence and inspire the discussion around sensible gun measures? What can we do to fund more research in this area?

• We must not overlook everyday gun violence that harms children of color.

After John Lennon’s assassination in 1980, artist Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd created a bronze sculpture entitled Non-Violence featuring a .357 Magnum revolver with the barrel tied in a knot.

Over the last 25 years, the nonprofit Non-Violence Project Foundation has helped that colloquially called Knotted Gun become iconic. Its oversize replicas are mounted in at least 30 civic places, including in front the United Nations building in New York. The proceeds of each commission go toward supporting NVPF’s larger mission of youth nonviolence prevention and conflict management education worldwide.

Now the group is partnering with the Dalai Lama to create a limited run of 150 small-scale Knotted Gun replicas from a material that drives the peace message home even more. They’re made from Humanium Metal, which is created from melted-down illegal firearms. One of those replicas, signed by the Dalai Lama, is expected to be auctioned at Sotheby’s later this year. The proceeds of the entire (yet-to-be-priced) line will benefit both NVPF and the maker of Humanium Metal, an international nonprofit called IM Swedish Development Partner.

Read the full article about the new version of a well-known anti-gun-violence sculpture by Ben Paynter at fastcompany.com.