Weapons are the idiomatic double-edged sword. They could kill or save lives, depending on how they are used.

Over the years, creative minds have developed ways of converting deadly weapons into peaceful items. It could be for art, fashion or more practical reasons like preventing famines and generating electricity. The weapons here range from small knives to automatic assault rifles, rocket launchers, armored tanks, helicopters and nuclear missiles.

See Also: 10 Myths About Guns And Gun Control

10 Escopetarra

Escopetarra (“shotgun guitar” in English) is coined from the Spanish “escopeta” (shotgun) and “guitarra” (guitar). As you should have guessed, the term refers to a gun that was converted into a guitar. The word is somewhat of a misnomer since the guitars are made out of assault rifles, mostly AK 47s, and not shotguns.

Colombian musician, César López, invented and named the escopetarra after observing the aftermath of a deadly car bombing in the early 2000s. The explosion killed 36 people and injured 170 others outside a nightclub in Bogotá, Colombia.

López observed that a soldier at the scene held his rifle as if it were a guitar. This motivated him to make a guitar out of an old AK 47 assault rifle. López still makes escopetarras today—all out of rifles surrendered by one of the many militias involved in the Colombian civil war.^[1]

9 The Throne Of Weapons And The Tree Of Life

The southeastern African nation of Mozambique fought a bitter civil war between 1977 and 1992. By the time it was over, over one million people were dead and another five million were homeless. At the end of the war, the government recovered seven million weapons by allowing former fighters exchange their weapons for farm tools under the “Transforming Arms into Tools” program.

In 2001, Mozambique artist, Cristóvão “Kester” Canhavato welded some of these weapons to create a sculpture he called the Throne of Weapons. The sculpture contains weapons from rival countries. There are rifles from the west, Russia, Portugal and North Korea. All were used in the civil war.

Another group of Mozambican artists created a second sculpture from the recovered weapons. This one was a three-meter-tall tree surrounded by several animals. They called it the Tree of Life. Unlike Kester, who exclusively made his sculpture out of assault rifles and magazines, these artists used rifles, pistols, magazines and rocket grenade launchers.^[2]

8Electricity

While many Americans do not realize this, Russia used to be responsible for one-tenth of the electricity generated in the US. The whole thing started at the end of the Cold War when Russia and the US agreed to decommission a large part of their nuclear stockpiles.

In 1993, both nations signed the U.S.-Russia HEU Purchase Agreement. The deal required Russia to process the uranium from its decommissioned weapons into nuclear fuel that will be sold to the US. The US would convert this fuel into fuel rods to power US nuclear plants.

The deal was a win for Russia. They got paid to destroy their nuclear weapons. As Anton Khlopkov of Center for Energy and Security Studies in Russia later said, “This is the only time in history when disarmament was actually profitable”. The deal ended in 2013 when the last batch of nuclear fuel was shipped to the US.^[3]

7 Tractors

French farmers were in a fix at the end of World War II. First, their farmlands were crisscrossed with trenches and deep craters caused by exploding artillery shells. However, that turned out to be the smaller problem. Their farm machineries, particularly the tractors they required for any farm work, were either destroyed or shipped to Germany by the Nazis.

The French army saved the day when it converted its 3,000 surplus M 17 (FT) Renault armored tank into makeshift tractors. The conversion was easy and swift. The armor and weapons on the tanks were removed, and one or two things were added, turning them into tractors.

The process was a win-win for the French people, farmers and army. It saved France from famine, provided farmers with tractors they could otherwise not afford and allowed the military dispose its useless tanks for cheap. As the French military told the farmers, “Those little tractors that whipped the Hun will undo much of what the Hun has done”. Hun here referred to the Germans.^[4]

6 Knife Angel

The Knife Angel (officially called the National Monument against Violence and Aggression) is a 27-feet-tall statue made by the Oswestry, UK-based National Ironworks Center. The statue was made out of 100,000 knives and blades police officers seized from crime suspects across the UK.

The National Ironworks Center created the statue as a tribute to the victims of knife crimes. In fact, 30% of the knives contained blood at the time police transferred them to the center. The center received so many knives that they had enough to create a second statue of a police dog.

Unlike the Knife Angel, the dog monument contained dog whistles, tags and gun parts. According to the center, the statue was a tribute to every dedicated, brave and hardworking police dog out there. It was presented to the West Mercia Police Department, which installed it right outside their headquarters in Hindlip, West Mercia, UK.^[5]

5 Artificial Reefs

Coral reefs are important for the survival of underwater life. Unfortunately, they are getting destroyed by humans and shifts in the earth’s climate, prompting responsible governments to create artificial reefs out of old subway cars and anything else that can survive underwater. Jordan did things a bit differently by making artificial reefs out of decommissioned military tanks, armored vehicles and helicopters.

The weapons were sunk between 50 to 90 feet below the Red Sea, just off the coast of the Jordanian city of Aqaba. Jordan already has 19 decommissioned weapons there as of July 2019, and hopes to grow this number as it gets more weapons. It hopes that the reefs will double as a museum and tourist attraction.^[6]

4 Garden Tools

Swords to Plowshares is a program by RAWtools, a Christian nongovernmental organization that wants to reduce gun violence. Under the program, people turn in their weapons and have them converted into farm implements. So far, RAWtools has converted AK 47 and AR-15 assault rifles into spades, plows, hoes, mattocks and trowels.

Recovered guns are cut into pieces before they are sent into the furnace. Thereafter, the red-hot metal is beaten into shape. Victims of gun violence and anti-gun violence advocates are allowed to take turns in beating the guns into farm tools.

Mike Martin, who founded RAWtools, said he was inspired by an Old Testament verse about the world only becoming peaceful when weapons are turned into farm tools. However, he only launched the program after the deadly December 14, 2012, Sandy Hook elementary school shooting. 28 people were killed and two others were injured in the shooting, which remains one of the deadliest school shootings in US history.^[7]

3Headphones And Wristwatches

IM is a Swedish organization that works closely with Latin American governments to get illegal guns off the streets and repurpose their metals for other things. IM calls this metal Humanium metal.

In 2018, it partnered with Yevo Labs to release the special edition Yevo 1 wireless earbuds. Parts of the earbuds and the charging case are made out of Humanium metal. To be clear, Yevo Labs had earlier released the Yevo 1 earbuds, which did not contain any gun part. The one that contained gun parts was a special edition version.

The same year, IM partnered with watchmaker, Triwa, to make watches out of Humanium metal. The guns used in the watches had been seized by police officers in El Salvador.^[8]

2 Chemotherapy

Chemical weapons were widely used during World War I. In fact, the war is nicknamed the Chemist’s War because chemists of the day were actively involved in developing chemical weapons for their sides. Chlorine, xylyl bromide and mustard gas all made their debut in the battlefields of World War I.

While all three were deadly, mustard gas hit a new level of lethality. It was first deployed by Germany against Allied troops in Ypres, Belgium, in July 1917. 10,000 Allied troops were killed in this single attack and more were injured.

Unlike other chemical weapons, mustard gas was immune to gas masks since it could penetrate the body through the skin. Protective clothes did not help since it went through clothes too. Victims of the attack ended up with bloody coughs and itchy skins filled with deadly blisters. A slow, painful death came six weeks later.

Two decades later, as the world prepared for World War II, Allied scientists started researching into preventing and curing mustard gas attacks. They clearly did not want any surprises this time. Two Yale University doctors, Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman, discovered that soldiers poisoned with the gas during World War I had lower white blood cells than other people did.

Gilman and Goodman soon figured out that mustard gas reduced the white blood cells in the body. The researchers deduced that mustard gas could help cure cancer. Here was the thing: White white blood cells fight infections in the body. However, they sometimes become mutated, causing leukemia cancer.

To confirm their theory, the researchers injected some subjects with nitrogen mustard and watched as their leukemia disappeared after several treatments. They were right. Mustard gas cured cancer. This was the first chemotherapy session and it formed the basis of cancer treatment today.^[9]

1Pots And Pans

Ships are made of steel—tons of raw steel that is recycled when they get old. 95% of the average ship is completely recyclable. This figure includes warships. They are cut and processed into new products, just like regular ships. These products could be anything including pots and pans.

One decommissioned warship that made the news before its scrapping was the HMS Invincible, a British naval ship that saw action in the Falklands, Balkan and Iraqi wars. The British navy sold the ship to Leyal Ship Recycling of Turkey for £2 million ($3.2 million).

The sale was considered ridiculous because it happened over the internet. But it appears that decommissioned warships often get sold over the internet. While it sounds good to know that warships get recycled, the task of cutting ships—warships inclusive—into pieces is actually difficult, complicated and dangerous. Many people die while trying to cut ships into pieces every year.^[10]

Comments on the “Evil People” Lists have often called for a list of great people. I have researched 10 outstandingly good men, many of whom are very famous. I have listed them here. As it was said in The “Top 10 Most Evil Men List”, Evil people are abundant. On the other hand, good is a little harder to find. If you disagree with the list, or have any omissions (of which I’m sure there are many ), please comment. I hope you like this list.

According to the Baha’i religion, Baha’u’llah was born in 1817, a member of one of the great patrician families of Persia. The family could trace its lineage to the ruling dynasties of Persia’s imperial past, and was endowed with wealth and vast estates. Turning His back on the position at court which these advantages offered Him, Baha’u’llah became known for His generosity and kindliness which made Him deeply loved among His countrymen.

This privileged position did not long survive Baha’u’llah’s announcement of support for the message of the Báb. Engulfed in the waves of violence unleashed upon the Bábis after the Báb’s execution Baha’u’llah suffered not only the loss of all His worldly endowments but was subjected to imprisonment, torture and a series of banishments. The first was to Baghdad, where, in 1863, He announced Himself as the One promised by the Báb. From Baghdad, Baha’u’llah was sent to Constantinople, to Adrianople and finally to Acre, in the Holy Land, where He arrived as a prisoner, in 1868.

From Adrianople and later from Acre, Baha’u’llah addressed a series of letters to the rulers of His day that are among the most remarkable documents in religious history. They proclaimed the coming unification of humanity, and the emergence of a world civilization. The kings, emperors and presidents of the nineteenth century were called upon to reconcile their differences, curtail their armaments, and devote their energies to the establishment of universal peace.

Baha’u’llah passed away at Bahji, just north of Acre, and is buried there. His teachings had already begun to spread beyond the confines of the Middle East, and His Shrine is today the focal point of the world community which these teachings have brought into being.

Benjamin Franklin, born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1706, may, by his life alone, be the most profound statement of what an American strives to be. He attended grammar school at age eight, but was put to work at ten. He apprenticed as a printer to his brother James, who printed the New England Courant, at age twelve, and published his first article there, anonymously, in 1721. Young Benjamin was an avid reader, inquisitive and skeptical. Through his satirical articles, he poked fun at the people of Boston and soon wore out his welcome, both with his brother and with the city. He ran away to New York and then on to Philadelphia at the age of 16, looking for work as a printer. He managed a commission to Europe for the purpose of buying supplies to establish a new printing house in Philadelphia, but found himself abandoned when he stepped off ship. Through hard work and frugality he bought his fare back to Philadelphia in 1732, and set up shop as a printer. He was appointed clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1736, and as Postmaster the following year. In 1741, he began publishing Poor Richard’s Almanac, a very popular and influential magazine. He was elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751, and served as an agent for Pennsylvania (and ultimately for three other colonies) to England, France and several other European powers.

He was elected to the Continental Congress in 1775, where he played a crucial role in the rebellion against Gr. Britain, including service to Jefferson, in editing the Declaration of Independence. Franklin, who was by this time independently wealthy and retired from publishing, continued to serve an important role in government, both local and national. He was the United States first Postmaster General, Minister to the French Court, Treaty agent and signer to the peace with Gr. Britain, Celebrated Member of the Constitutional convention (See Work, above). Benjamin Franklin: Businessman, Writer, Publisher, Scientist, Diplomat, Legislator and Social activist was one of the earliest and strongest advocates for the abolition of Slavery, and for the protection of the rights of American aboriginal peoples. He died on the 17th of April, 1790. On that day he was still one of the most celebrated characters in America.

Known as the founder of the Socratic method of questioning, Socrates was a famed social and judicial philosopher. Through his dialogues, his masterful arguments, and his logical method of countering his opponents verbally, he earned a reputation through every household, university and government office in Greece. Born to a sculptor and masonry worker in Athens, he followed his father’s chosen career path successfully for several years before devoting himself to the betterment of his own intellectual being. He had interest in the great philosophers of the day, including Plato and Xenophon. After their meeting, Plato continued writing using Socrates’ voice as the narrator of his works, which showed that logic and sound argument could disarm any opponent.

Socrates claimed to hear voices that told him about his own moral behavior, and would warn him if he were to not meet his own high standards of divine truth and justice. He also concluded that Greece’s wisest persons were not as wise as he, because Socrates claimed he saw his own ignorance. One who realizes he is ignorant will become the wisest of all.

Many Athenians in Greece thought that Socrates was polluting the minds of the city’s youth. They accused him of putting ideas into their heads, counter to the goals of the Athenian government. An argument, recorded in Apology, gives a prime example of Socrates’ argumentative process, where he shows that since the government has not thought about the city’s youth, they cannot be imprisoned for their corruption. This style of questioning begins with regular questioning and carries on until logic reaches a definite point and conclusion. His fame, life, philosophy and logic won him much praise, and is still considered the foundation of the philosophies that spread after him.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was born on January 15, 1929, at his family home in Atlanta, Georgia. King was an eloquent Baptist minister and leader of the civil-rights movement in America, from the Mid-1950s until his death, by assassination, in 1968. King promoted non-violent means to achieve civil-rights reform and was awarded the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

King’s grandfather was a Baptist preacher. His father was pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church. King earned his own Bachelor of Divinity degree from Crozier Theological Seminary in 1951, and earned his Doctor of Philosophy from Boston University, in 1955.

While at seminary, King became acquainted with Mohandas Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolent social protest. On a trip to India in 1959, King met with followers of Gandhi. During these discussions he became more convinced than ever that nonviolent resistance was the most potent weapon available to oppressed people in their struggle for freedom.

As a pastor of a Baptist church in Montgomery, Alabama, King lead a Black bus boycott. He and ninety others were arrested and indicted under the provisions of a law making it illegal to conspire to obstruct the operation of a business. King and several others were found guilty, but appealed their case. As the bus boycott dragged on, King was gaining a national reputation. The ultimate success of the Montgomery bus boycott made King a national hero.

Dr. King’s 1963 Letter from Birmingham Jail inspired a growing national civil rights movement. In Birmingham, the goal was to completely end the system of segregation in every aspect of public life (stores, no separate bathrooms and drinking fountains, etc.) and in job discrimination. Also in 1963, King led a massive march on Washington DC, where he delivered his now famous, “I Have A Dream” speech. King’s tactics of active nonviolence (sit-ins, protest marches) had put civil-rights squarely on the national agenda.

On April 4, 1968, King was shot by James Earl Ray while standing on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, in Memphis, Tennessee. He was only 39 at the time of his death. Dr. King was turning his attention to a nationwide campaign to help the poor at the time of his assassination.

According to his homepage, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is both the head of state and the spiritual leader of Tibet. He was born on 6 July, 1935, to a farming family, in a small hamlet located in Taktser, Amdo, and northeastern Tibet. At the age of two the child, who was named Lhamo Dhondup at that time, was recognized as the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama, Thubten Gyatso. The Dalai Lamas are believed to be manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have postponed their own nirvana and chosen to take rebirth in order to serve humanity.

Nelson Mandela was born in a small South African village, to a local chief and his third wife. He was the first person in his family to receive a western education, and was inspired to study law after witnessing the democracy of African tribal governance at an early age. Mandela became a sought after lawyer in Johannesburg, defending black South Africans against the government’s increasingly unfair treatment, and a key figure of the African National Congress, a political party that sought to unite all Africans and regain their rights and freedom. He participated in boycotts, organized protests, mobilized his people and, in turn, was labeled an enemy of the state: accused of treason, banned from political involvement, disbarred and sentenced to life in prison. Mandela’s incarceration brought international attention to the racial injustices of South Africa’s apartheid government, sparking the rally cry “Free Nelson Mandela” worldwide.

Mandela served 27 years in prison, before his release in 1990, at the age of 72. He was elected the first black President of South Africa, in 1994. Although he retired from political life in 1999, Mandela continues to lend his voice towards issues that affect his country and the world at large, such as the AIDS epidemic, poverty and human rights. He was also instrumental in securing South Africa as the host of the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

Nelson Mandela is one of the world’s greatest, and most admired political leaders. He has been honored with numerous awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize, for he is a shining example of the incredible strength of the human spirit to persevere, in the face of adversity, for the pursuit of freedom.

Born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, Kathiawar, West India. He studied law in London, but in 1893 went to South Africa, where he spent 20 years opposing discriminatory legislation against Indians. As a pioneer of Satyagraha, or resistance through mass non-violent civil disobedience, he became one of the major political and spiritual leaders of his time. Satyagraha remains one of the most potent philosophies in freedom struggles throughout the world today.

In 1914, Gandhi returned to India, where he supported the Home Rule movement, and became leader of the Indian National Congress, advocating a policy of non-violent non-co-operation to achieve independence. His goal was to help poor farmers and laborers protest oppressive taxation and discrimination. He struggled to alleviate poverty, liberate women and put an end to caste discrimination, with the ultimate objective being self-rule for India.

Following his civil disobedience campaign (1919-22), he was jailed for conspiracy (1922-4). In 1930, he led a landmark 320 km/200 mi march to the sea to collect salt in symbolic defiance of the government monopoly. On his release from prison (1931), he attended the London Round Table Conference on Indian constitutional reform. In 1946, he negotiated with the Cabinet Mission, which recommended the new constitutional structure. After independence (1947), he tried to stop the Hindu-Muslim conflict in Bengal, a policy which led to his assassination in Delhi, by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu fanatic.

Even after his death, Gandhi’s commitment to non-violence and his belief in simple living: making his own clothes, eating a vegetarian diet, and using fasts for self-purification as well as a means of protest— has been a beacon of hope for oppressed and marginalized people throughout the world.

In about the sixth century B.C., Siddhartha Gautama was born into a royal family. When he was a young adult his experiences with the outside world drove him to seek out a greater understanding of life and spiritual fulfillment. Through seeking guidance and meditation, Siddhartha was said to have achieved Enlightenment. From that point, he was known as the Buddha, which means ‘Enlightened One’. For the rest of his life, the Buddha traveled great distances, teaching people about one path to salvation. After the Buddha’s death, his pupils continued to spread his teachings. Buddhism developed at a time when Hinduism, the most widespread religion in India, had become tightly controlled by priests and the upper classes. Buddhism offered hope and access to spiritual understanding and satisfaction to ordinary people. Throughout the world today, people still follow the teachings of the Buddha.

Master Kong Qiu, as his name translates from Chinese, lived from 551 to 479 BC, and remains the most important single philosopher in Eastern history. He espoused significant principles of ethics and politics, in a time when the Greeks were espousing the same things. We think of democracy as a Greek invention, a Western idea, but Confucius wrote in his Analects that “the best government is one that rules through ‘rites’ and the people’s natural morality, rather than by using bribery and coercion. This may sound obvious to us today, but he wrote it in the early 500s to late 400s BC. It is the same principle of democracy that the Greeks argued for and developed: the people’s morality is in charge; therefore, rule by the people.

Confucius defended the idea of an Emperor, but also advocated limitations to the emperor’s power. The emperor must be honest, and his subjects must respect him, but he must also deserve that respect. If he makes a mistake, his subjects must offer suggestions to correct him, and he must consider them. Any ruler who acted contrary to these principles was a tyrant, and thus a thief more than a ruler.

Confucius also devised his own independent version of the Golden Rule, which had existed for at least a century in Greece before him. His phrasing was almost identical, but then furthered the idea: “What one does not wish for oneself, one ought not to do to anyone else; what one recognizes as desirable for oneself, one ought to be willing to grant to others.” The first statement is in the negative, and constitutes a passive desire not to harm others. The second statement is much more important, constituting an active desire to help others. The only other philosopher of antiquity to advocate the Golden Rule in the positive form is Jesus Christ.

I have ranked Jesus Christ as number one because His impact is far more reaching than any of the other members of this list – with more adherents in the world, by a mile, than any other religious group. Jesus of Nazareth is the founding figure of Christianity, and Christianity is the religion that shaped Europe and much of the world, as a consequence. As the largest religion in the world, there is no doubt that Christianity is still making an impact to this day. The principal sources of information regarding Jesus’ life and teachings are the four canonical gospels. Most critical scholars in the fields of history and biblical studies believe that ancient texts on Jesus’ life are, at least partially, accurate, agreeing that Jesus was a Galilean Jew who was regarded as a teacher and healer. They also generally accept that He was baptized by John the Baptist, and was crucified in Jerusalem on orders of the Roman Prefect of Judaea Pontius Pilate, on the charge of sedition against the Roman Empire. Interestingly, the most peaceful man on this list also said: “Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword.” [St Matthew 10:34]