Bang-bangles: Jewelry designer turns guns and bullets reclaimed in amnesty programs into bracelets

By Beth Stebner

Published: | Updated:

One jewelry designer is trying to turn an object of destruction into one of beauty, one reclaimed gun at a time.

Connecticut-based designer Jessica Mindich has been transforming guns and bullet casings from the streets of Newark, New Jersey, into steel and brass bracelets.

Each of the former guns-turned-bangles now carries the serial number of the weapon.

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Gun metal: A designer is turning amnesty-claimed guns into jewelry, keeping the weapon's serial number visible

Jessica Mindich
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Reclaimed: Jessica Mindich models her bracelets from the Caliber Collection; the bracelets retail from between $150 to $5,000, and 20 percent of profits go to several selected charities

‘I was going to repurpose them into something that is beautiful, hopefully something that turns the ugly into the beautiful,’ she told CBS News. 

Her bracelets, part of the Caliber Collection, retail from $150 to $500. The designer said that she hopes they become iconic of the cause they represent, like the Livestrong bracelets.

She got the original idea when she met with Newark mayor Cory Booker last spring, long before gunfire rang out in Aurora or Newtown.

The two ended up talking about gun violence. ‘At first I felt silly being a jewelry designer talking to the mayor of what was once one of the most dangerous cities in the US,’ she told the Greenwich Daily Voice.

‘But I realized that there were ways I could help, and he was really excited.’

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Collaboration: The designer spoke with Newark mayor Cory Booker, pictured, about her project idea; Booker approved

The city had hundreds of guns bought back through the Gun Buyback Amnesty program, and nothing to do with them.

Ms Mindich said that weeks later, she was in a ballistics lab shredding gun metal to make bangles.
‘You don’t realize how many people’s lives are affected by gun violence,’ she said.

‘I hope this gives people the opportunity to have something on their arm, wrist, finger, or neck as a symbol of a city that can change its course,’ she said.

The designer will donate 20 percent of all of the sales profits to non-profit organizations, including DoSomething.org, the Red Cross, and the ASPCA. 

Following the mass shootings in Colorado and Connecticut, that very issue has reached its zenith, with lawmakers polarized on how best to handle the issue.

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