COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Spencer Goldstein used to think he was a good guy with a gun.
A military police officer who graduated from West Point and earned a master's degree from Liberty University, Goldstein believed guns were a necessary force for good.
But several unexpected life developments and a personal reckoning with his Christian faith led to a complete shift in perspective. Now, with less than a month left of his nine years of service, Goldstein is leaving the military as a conscientious objector.
His “repentance tour” as he calls it, started with an internship at RAWtools, a Colorado Springs-based nonprofit that employs blacksmithing to turn guns into garden tools while spreading a message of peace through community outreach.
“You know, I’ve been in support of a lot of pro-gun things,” Goldstein said of his military career. “So for me to be in here cutting up guns and making life out of things — it’s a really cool experience.”
RAWtools pulls on Christian scripture to define its three-part mission to “disarm hearts, cultivate peace and forge justice,” said Michael Martin, co-founder and executive director for the nonprofit.
Martin is a former youth and young adult pastor in the Mennonite church. He co-founded RAWtools a decade ago with his father, Fred Martin, after a gunman killed 26 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. Martin said they are driven to this work through their Mennonite faith, which emphasizes nonviolence and pacifism.