BUFFALO, N.Y. — Mark Stradley knows his way around a gun, just not in the way you might think.

"Today, we're taking about six inches of rifle barrel and we're going to be turning it into a garden mattock," he said.

Every year in the U.S., tens of thousands of people die of gun violence, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It has an impact on those left behind.

Stradley, a Buffalo high school counselor, is trying to shift the narrative by creating tools to sow seeds of change.

"I've been in the Buffalo Public Schools [system] for about 15 years, and I've lost probably about a half a dozen students to gun violence," he said. "And even more students that have lost a parent or a loved one to gun violence."

It's a split second that forever changes a life.

"That ripple effect [...] Yeah, it's substantial," he said.

That is why, in 2019, he started RAWtools Buffalo.

"We have more guns than we have people in America and, last year, we believe it was over 43,000 individuals in America lost their life to guns," Stradley said. "So we're just trying to teach them that there's other ways."

All the guns come from law enforcement or families that didn’t want them.

"We've probably taken in pretty close to 100 firearms," he said.

Donors can get a free garden tool back or pay it forward.

"These are guns that were Western New York guns that we got about two years ago," Stradley explained. "These will be donated to one of our community gardens in East Buffalo."

It takes about 30 to 45 minutes to complete a transformation, both physically and mentally.

"Just being able to hit on it ... it lets a lot of stress out," said Stradley.

It's a kind of therapy that Stradley takes to public demonstrations.

"This is Dr. Gelsey hitting on a piece of rifle barrel," Stradley said, showing a video of a member of the public hammering a gun barrel. "He had lost his son a few years back."

Like the guns they get, what they can create varies, from wall décor to fidget toys to jewelry.

"It’s a nice way for them to know, 'hey, this is a gun that is not going to hurt anybody ever again,' " he explained.

Stradley wants to see more disarming centers across the state, but in the meantime, he’s doing what he can for change to take root at home.

"We're not here to take your guns. [...] We're not saying anybody's a bad person for owning one, but once you kind of tell the story and I talk about my students that have died by suicide or students that got hit with a bullet that wasn't even intended for them, people understand it," Stradley said. "OK, this is for a healing purpose."

Stradley has expanded his efforts into schools, too, with a Junior Peacekeepers group. It teaches student de-escalation skills, coping strategies and more. They then pass those skills on to lower grade levels.