“The shocking shooting of an Arizona congresswoman last month has not damaged the western state’s love affair with guns,” monstersandcritics.com reports. “The rampage at a shopping mall left six people dead and 14 injured. But lawmakers are not about to tighten the state’s famously lax gun laws. Rather they plan to bolster the status of firearms by naming the Colt revolver as the official state gun. On Wednesday a key legislative body approved a bill to make the Colt the official state firearm in recognition of the gun’s role in helping settle the desert territory in the late 19th century.” Ha! it gets better . . .
‘I think Arizona has a tradition of being a Wild West state,’ said Republican Senator Ron Gould, one of 42 co-sponsors of the bill. ‘The Colt single action Army revolver epitomizes the Wild West heritage of Arizona.’
The bill designating the Colt revolver Arizona’s official firearm passed out of the Arizona State Senate appropriations committee on Wednesday by a vote of 9-4. More than 40 Sate legislators have signed onto the resulting bill. The Phoenix New Times is not amused:
The bill will be heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee today. It’s sponsored by all the usual suspects — Russell Pearce, Judy Burgess, and the rest of the crazies in the Legislature that seem to be hell-bent on making living in Arizona the punchline to a joke. See all their names here.
Truth be told, there is macabre humor to be had from the tragedy in Tucson. While anyone with a shred of humanity views the spree killing as a horrific crime, the resulting vilification of the weapon used is exactly the kind of boneheaded bombast that makes gun control advocates figures of fun amongst the firearms community. Hence the new term “happy sticks” for extended magazines and this vinyl wall decal from easydecals.com. As the Brits would say, “you gotta laff, mate.”
I hope the win because I love Colt, and my first 1911 was a Colt commander.
I can understand Utah recognizing John Browning because he was from there. But Colt was born in Connecticut and Colt’s was a Connecticut company. Was Glock Arizona’s second choice?
It’s because of the key role the Colt revolver played in the years before Arizona’s statehood (BTW, the 99th anniversary of Arizona’s statehood was this past Valentine’s Day).
I like living here in Arizona. Constitutional Carry FTW!
“I like living here in Arizona.”
Been there. Phoenix, Tucson, Flagstaff. Loved ’em all. And my childhood heroes included Barry Goldwater.
Neato! But useless… Now, if they would hurry up and get us Campus Carry I just might go back to school and gets me some edumacation. I would take a class just for the sheer satisfaction of sitting down at my desk with a subtle “Clunk” every now and then. hahaha…
Yes! I was getting very jealous of Utah and their state gun. Its things like this that make me proud of my home state.
A Colt 1911 isn’t a revolver – it’s and a .45 automatic pistol – it was the US military side arm for a long time – a Colt Peacemaker came in lot of caliburs – mostly .44 and .5 and is a single action revolver.