More The State Gun of Utah

From the January 24, 2011 Salt Lake Tribune:

During an official, one-time-only holiday honoring legendary Utah gun-maker John Moses Browning, a House committee voted 9-2 on Monday to endorse a bill to declare his M1911 handgun as the official Utah State Firearm.

But an anti-violence advocate told the Legislature that sends the wrong message about Utah to the world.

“Semiautomatic pistols are the weapons of choice for those who are committing massacres” such as the recent shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and others in Tucson, testified Steven Gunn, a board member of the Gun Violence Prevention Center of Utah. “Is this the time to adopt as a symbol of the state the same kind of weapon used to kill all these people?”

Only Democratic Reps. Jennifer Seelig, Salt Lake City, and Marie Poulson, Cottonwood Heights, opposed the bill in the House Political Subdivisions Committee. Seelig said that especially because Utah would be the first state to adopt an official state firearm, “In terms of what we want to be known for, no, I’m not voting for this.”

I am reminded of when (if my memory serves me correctly) Baltimore decided that the classic image of Harriet Tubman with a rifle needed updating.