If you had to pick a favorite gun, which would you choose?
Would it be a rifle, a shotgun, your daily carry pistol? Maybe a musket for historical reasons or a full auto machine gun just because they’re cool and you’ve always wanted to have the opportunity to shoot one (at a range, thank you).
Most people, if they consider that at all, make that choice personally, but some decide to do that on the state level. In fact, folks in eleven states so far have made their selections (or it’s been made for them) of their state firearm, and a twelfth has it on the ballot for this midterm election. David A. Lieb writes,
In Boise, the Republican-led Legislature placed a nonbinding question on the ballot seeking voters’ advice on designating “the state gun of Idaho.” About 3 in 5 Idaho adults live in households with guns, which ranks among the highest rates nationally, according to an estimate from the RAND Gun Policy in America initiative.
That’s quite a ratio of gun owners to non-gun owners, as in roughly 60% of households in Idaho have firearms (nationwide, it’s estimated that 40%-44% of households have a firearm).
I’m personally of the opinion that the rest of the U.S. would be better off if that same ratio was duplicated nationwide, but I digress.
Now, I think that we can all admit, like a state bird or any other thing chosen to represent a state, it’s at most a symbolic thing. And much of the time, it’s just something to provide a bit of amusement or to get some attention.
In the case of Idaho, at least, there is a practical motivation for it. Lieb continues:
Some Republican lawmakers hope the ballot question will encourage more people to vote.
Will it help?
I don’t know, but I at least respect the motivation for it, and anything that both encourages people to vote and to consider firearms ownership in a positive light is probably a good thing in my book.
