Utah Becomes First State to Honor a State Gun

Saturday, March 19, 2011
After participating in the pursuit of famed bandit Pancho Villa in the early 20th century, the Browning M1911 automatic pistol is again making history—becoming the first-ever official firearm of a U.S. state.
 
In deciding to establish a state firearm, Utah lawmakers settled on the M1911 pistol because its creator, legendary gun maker John Browning, was born and lived a large part of his life in the state. Browning also founded his company in Utah.
 
The 100-year-old handgun was adopted by the U.S. Army in 1911 and used by an expeditionary force that invaded Mexico five years later to hunt down Villa. It remained standard issue until 1985.
 
Utah has unusually lenient gun ownership laws, attracting revenue from out-of-state gun owners. Of the 67,000 concealed-weapon permits issued in Utah in 2010, 51,000 were sold to non-residents.
 
Utah already had 23 other state symbols, including the state vegetable (Spanish sweet onion), state historic vegetable (sugar beet), state rock (coal), state insect (honey bee), state cooking pot (Dutch oven) and state fossil (allosaurus).
 
In addition to Utah, Arizona also wants to designate a state firearm: the Colt revolver. But that decision has been mired in controversy, coming so close after the Tucson shootings in January that killed six people and seriously wounded U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
 

Comments

ron armstrong 11 years ago
Allright Utah still standing tall , with all the libs and commies trying to bring her down!!!
Patrick 13 years ago
Only in US of A.......... Why not a State AK-47 or better yet missile launcher ?? Com-on boys you got more fire power than some dinky hand gun !!!!! Get your heads into the 21st century you cowboy wanna-bees And you wonder why the world laughs at you............
Mark Willo 13 years ago
Tough guys and their guns....
tim moxley 13 years ago
the rest of the nation should follow, every citizen should own and carry, if not the 1911, a variation of it. this is by far the best handgun ever designed!! easy to shoot, easy to disassemble, easy to clean, easy to reassemble and place back into service. i stake my life, and my family's life on it, and will give it up, only when they pry my cold dead hands from around it!!!!!!
william whitney 13 years ago
Me, I'll stick with the 44.40 - a Winchester on my saddle and a Colt Peacemaker on my hip.
Maj. RJA 13 years ago
It's about time the state recognized the Browning family for their contribution to the history of the United States , Utah and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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