Arizona Governor Jan Brewer on Thursday signed a bill into law that makes the Colt Single Action Army Revolver the state's firearm, making Arizona only the second in the nation to have such a designation.
This is only a few months after Gabby Giffords was shot during a public meeting with her constituents, resulting in a serious injury for her, from which she may never fully recover and the death of several innocent bystanders including a federal judge and 9 year old girl.
And there is also historical opposition to this action as well:
A Navajo Nation lawmaker also strongly objected to honoring a gun that killed his people and so many others during its long history in the American West.
I recognize that we have a right to bears arms. I even tend to agree with much of the way the 2nd amendment has been interpreted. There is a place for guns in this country as long as we understand their uses and just how much damage they can do. But what we've seen lately has nothing to do with personal protection or hunting. It is instead about paranoia and intimidation. Last year we saw candidates for high office talk about bullet boxes and 2nd amendment remedies.
In the end, this designation will have little impact on crime, one way or the other. There probably won't be an increase in shoot outs using Colts. But I suspect it will have a big effect on civil discourse. Public events and government offices will have more people show up displaying their weapons, and probably scaring off many others who would like to participate in some way.