This West Richland woman made headlines doing this to her AR-15

There comes a time when you have to do what you feel is right.

For one West Richland woman, that meant taking an angle grinder and turning her AR-15 rifle into 22 pieces.

Debbie Lentz on Monday destroyed her fuschia-and-black gun, which was a gift from her husband Tom about 10 years ago. Video of the dismantling, shot by her husband, went viral, catching the attention of CNN, Reuters and other international and local media outlets.

“I did not set out to get attention, but I’m glad it is,” Lentz said. “My aim was to support Mr. (Scott) Pappalardo, whose video I saw of him doing the same thing. (The gun) was fun to shoot and it was easy to shoot, but it’s not difficult to make it fully automatic and highly illegal.”

Now don’t get the wrong idea about Lentz. She said she is not anti guns. At one time she had a concealed weapons permit (she let it lapse), and she and her husband like to target shoot. They also have a secure gun safe in their home. She’s just against a weapon that has been used time and again in school shootings and last year in Las Vegas.

“Gun safes can be stolen and broken into,” she said. “Anything can happen. Any time they make something fool proof, there is a better fool.”

From West Richland to the international scene

When Lentz, 53, put her video on Facebook this past Tuesday, she thought she would get a few comments from friends, and maybe their friends. But the #oneless tag that Pappalardo used was what put her on the map.

“It took about a day, and I was getting messages,” she said. “Reuters contacted me and wanted permission to use the video. CNN contacted me and wanted to do an interview.”

The interview as done with CNN International, whose producer called her from Hong Kong. They told her what they wanted to talk about, and they wanted to do a live interview via Skype.

“I was a little nervous that it was going to be live,” Lentz said. “They just wanted to hear my story. Why I wanted to do this.”

She has gotten support from all over the world. There also have been unkind comments, which she just scrolls past. There came a point where she just quit looking at the comments altogether.

“I was getting a lot of support from people overseas who don’t have access to guns,” Lentz said. “I personally feel this type of weapon should not be in civilian hands. We cannot be trusted. It is a drop in the bucket, but buckets are filled with drops.”

One viewer of her video expressed concern that pieces of the gun could still be used, so Lentz called West Richland Police, who stopped by to take a look and gave her peace of mind.

“I had to cut down the firing pin so it couldn’t be used to fire a bullet,” she said. “We also plugged up the barrel (which was cut in half) so no one can piece it back together.”

First-hand experience with a school shooting

In 2003, Lentz’s son, Theo Hill, was a student at Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane when a 17-year-old male student fired a gun in the school and barricaded himself in a classroom with a teacher and three other students.

This particular student had a 9 millimeter semiautomatic pistol. The armed student, who had left a suicide note at home, was shot, but survived.

“My son used to have lunch in that area of the school,” Lentz said. “As a parent, there was an utter feeling of terror. I don’t want anyone else to go through that.”

One person can make a difference

Lentz said she supports the students who recently have taken the initiative to contact their legislators about gun control.

“I encourage legislators to outlaw these guns,” she said. “This is not a necessary weapon. This gun is being used to kill people. I really did not expect this to go this crazy. I did not think this through, but someone has to bring it to the world’s attention.”

While her gun may be in pieces, Lentz is not throwing it away. A friend has put her in touch with an artist, and the hope is to create a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork.

“I’m sure some of my gun friends are not happy with me,” she said. “But change is started by one person.”

This story was originally published February 24, 2018 at 6:30 PM with the headline "This West Richland woman made headlines doing this to her AR-15."