Clark Aposhian of the Utah Shooting Sports Council, a supporter of the Utah bill which would make the M1911 .45-caliber handgun the official state firearm, says now is the appropriate time to honor the weapon.
“The Tucson shootings, the Virginia Tech shootings have portrayed firearms in a negative light and I think this will enlarge the debate and ultimately show that firearms are actually useful,” Aposhian said, though noting that the bill was in the works before the Arizona shooting.
But State Rep. Jennifer Seelig (D) said that “a lot of people think this is a big waste of time, particularly since we are facing some economic challenges in the state.”
“If we want to honor an historical figure that’s great, but let’s do this another way,” Seelig said. “A state symbol is supposed to be something that unifies the population in the state and guns certainly are a divisive type of unit and it’s polarizing.”
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