Does Your State Have an Official ‘State Gun’?

Utah state lawmakers are currently debating whether to designate a semiautomatic pistol as the official gun of Utah, the Browning M1911 pistol. The motivation is to honor Utah native John Browning, the guns inventor.

Pennsylvania wants to do the same thing. But they don’t want to settle for some pistol, they want to heap their honor on a rifle. And their reasoning for doing so is that it provides a celebration of history and a contribution toward America’s independence.

Sounds a little too much like honoring the National Rifle Association. If we follow the line of the often used reasoning that ‘guns don’t kill people, people kill people’ then people are the “contribution toward America’s independence”, not firearms.

Anyway, how is it that these representatives have enough time on their hands to work on this type of legislation? There must be something of a more ‘pressing nature’ for these guys to work on other than something that only amounts to ‘busy work’.

Now I suppose this means there is going to be a race between these two states to see which is first to have an official firearm.

Where is this coming from anyway? And who is benefiting from it?

Utah Republican Representative Carl Wimmer said of Browning "He invented a firearm that has defended American values and the traditions of this country for 100 years."

Sounds like a load of rhetoric that just happens to overlook the fact that the ‘American values’ he refers to killed a lot of native American Indians and stole their land from them. Are those the ‘values’ you are referring to Mr. Wimmer?

I’m not a gun control nut, in fact, I believe everyone should have the choice to have one if they deem it necessary, but John Browning can be honored in other ways without declaring such a polarizing device as a weapon to be a state symbol.

Gun Violence Prevention Center board member Steve Gunn told The Associated Press honoring the M1911 is wrong because the people who opened fire in most recent U.S. mass shootings used semiautomatic pistols. That includes the Jan. 8 Arizona shooting in which six people were killed and 13 — including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords — were wounded with a Glock pistol.

I can almost agree with his reasoning except it’s like saying we should not drive cars because they can kill. And I don’t believe that demonizing a weapon is going to convince people to not own one, just like honoring a weapon is not going to lead to an increase in gun sales. I just don’t think a government body should promote something that holds so much potential for abuse that can lead to such horrific and devastating effect.

Celebrating family, high moral character, and ethical standards, while rewarding education and promoting mutual respect, now these are things that are worth honoring.