Department of WTF
As we noted yesterday, more than 40 Arizona state legislators have signed on to a bill that would make the Colt single-action Army revolver the official state firearm. Early this morning, the Senate Appropriations Committeevoted 9-4 to advance the measure to a full Senate vote.
Seriously? What a complete waste of time. If we are going to start naming official state _____ where the blank is a commercially sold product, could we at least auction the rights, like the Olympics does? I understand that there are passionate 2nd amendment defenders that somehow think this is a statement they need to make, but I am a passionate first amendment defender as well and I see no need for an official state microphone or printing press model.
TJIC:
I was about to defend this as being better than anything else they might spend their time on ... but I do like the idea of an auction. It raises cash, ** AND ** it makes the implicit whore-like nature of the State clear!
February 23, 2011, 2:35 pmRetardo:
State mics would be cool!
Massachusetts: The Sennheiser State. Utah, Land of the U-87.
I say go for it.
February 23, 2011, 2:36 pmcaseyboy:
I agree with TJIC in that if we can get legislatures focused on something things that can't really hurt us that would be a good thing.
February 23, 2011, 2:44 pmCraig:
I think Utah went with the Browning M1911.
February 23, 2011, 10:17 pmJohn Moore:
No harm, no foul. We hardly pay our legislators anything, anyway. So if they want to spend a small amount of time with something like this, so what? It's not like they are unionized and have work rules prohibiting it!
February 23, 2011, 10:24 pmA Friend from CT:
Coyote, the old six-gun really hasn't been in commercial manufacture since before WWII, so it would be like having the RCA Victrola Company bidding to make 78 record players the state music reproduction device. If you sold off bidding rights for state gun Arizona would be the Glock state or something.
February 24, 2011, 11:39 amBlogDog:
May I suggest a new heraldic banner for the state: A dinosaur, rampant, on a field of trivia....
February 24, 2011, 1:04 pmHenry Bowman:
To "A Friend from CT":
Actually the SAA is still manufactured, and perhaps in fairly large numbers. The reason is the highly popular "Cowboy Action" sporting events, in which participants use vintage firearms. Better to use a modern SAA than one manufactured at the turn of the 20th century, which might actually be too valuable to risk (and the modern ones might be safer).
It is appropriate that, while the Utah legislature did indeed waste its time choosing a state firearm, at least it chose the M1911, which was designed by Ogden resident John Moses Browning, who also designed a very large fraction of firearms used by the U.S. Army, including the M2 machine gun, which is still very much in use.
Perhaps a decade ago, the New Mexico legislature spent time deciding the official state "question" ("Red or Green?"). Gov. Gary Johnson signed it into law, but during the signing ceremony took time to chastise the legislature for wasting its time on such trivia.
February 24, 2011, 6:20 pmwws:
under the heading of Important Things that States Do:
(an Official State Flying Mammal?)
This is from Dave Barry:
4. OFFICIAL STATE THINGS: Here the competition gets tougher. Alabama, Missouri and Oregon have all declared an Official State Nut. Massachusetts and New Mexico both have an Official State Cookie. Utah has an Official State Cooking Pot. Texas has an Official State Flying Mammal (the Mexican Freetailed Bat). But the winner in this category is a five-way tie among Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wisconsin, all of which have taken time out of their busy schedules to declare an Official State Soil.
February 25, 2011, 11:48 am