Arizona Senate committee passes bill naming Colt the state’s offical gun

When you think things can’t get any weirder, they always do. Hard on the heels of a bill to make abortion illegal if it is being done because of the expected race or sex of the fetus, Arizona has now passed a bill out of committee naming the Colt revolver the state’s official gun.

Even so, in a firefight with Utah, Arizona lawmakers will be outgunned, as Utah just named a semiautomatic pistol that state’s official gun.

Of course, if you asked lawmakers in either of those states, they’d no doubt tell you they are focused on jobs and the budget.

From The Associated Press:

Arizona is considering making a Colt revolver that was popular in the West in the late 19th century the state’s official firearm.

Almost half the state’s lawmakers are co-sponsors of the bill honoring the Colt single-action Army revolver. The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 9-4 early Wednesday to advance the measure.

A Colt lobbyist said the revolver helped settle the Arizona Territory.

Anti-gun activists want lawmakers to consider bills limiting guns in the wake of a deadly Tucson shooting that killed six and wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. But the Republican-led Legislature has a strong record of supporting gun rights.

Utah lawmakers have passed a bill to designate the Browning M1911 — a semiautomatic pistol — as the state’s official gun. The bill awaits the governor’s signature.

Scot Kersgaard has been managing editor of a political newspaper, editor and co-owner of a ski town newspaper, executive editor of eight high-tech magazines (where he worked with current Apple CEO Tim Cook), deputy press secretary to a U.S. Senator, and an outdoors columnist at the Rocky Mountain News. He has an English degree from the University of Washington. He was awarded a fellowship to study internet journalism at the University of Maryland's Knight Center for Specialized Journalism. He was student body president in college. He spends his free time hiking and skiing.

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