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