I have a game for you. I’ll say four things and you decide which one doesn’t belong; a Rocky Mountain elk, a beehive, a .45-caliber handgun, and a square dance.
If you guessed the handgun, congratulations, you are right!
As it turns out, the elk, beehive, and square dance are official symbols of the state of Utah while the handgun is only in the process of becoming a Utah state symbol. The handgun in question, a Browning M1911, is also the only one of the four designed and used to kill people. Does the whole thing sound like a sick joke? Unfortunately, it’s not.
The Browning M1911 was invented by Utah resident John Moses Browning in 1911. Legislation making this handgun a state symbol in Utah just passed a committee in its Senate on Monday, after previously passing the state’s House of Representatives. The next step is for it to face a full vote in front of the Senate, according to the Associated Press.
I ask you to forget which side of the gun control/gun rights debate you find yourself on and take an honest look at Utah’s proposed state symbol. You’ll find it is appalling.
While combating enemies in times of war and protecting against criminals are completely legitimate uses of guns, the fact remains that handguns (not hunting rifles) are meant to mutilate human life. For example, should we make a newly discovered form of cancer a state symbol since it keeps American researchers employed? Of course not.
Lawmakers in Utah are lying to themselves if they think they are doing something good for their state or country by proposing that a death symbol represent their home. What they have actually done is put themselves in the same boat as rapper Lil Wayne, who seems to brag about owning a gun and shooting someone in his Billboard hit, Right Above It.
“I got my gun in my boo purse / And I don’t bust back, because I shoot first,” raps Lil Wayne.
Can’t we ensure our state lawmakers and Grammy-award winning entertainers are above the idiocy of gun imagery? If you don’t vote for it and don’t buy it, they won’t do it.
The country needs to take a cue from the Senate of New York. Last week, Sen. Eric Adams from Brooklyn launched a campaign against gun violence.
Adams made an instructional video that educates parents on ways to check their children’s bedrooms for guns. The campaign is also following up with billboards around the city.
“Gun violence is all too prevalent in our society,” Adams said. “It is a plague, and we must dedicate ourselves to its eradication.”
While Adams is proposing gun control legislation, which you may or may not agree with, he is leading his campaign with a message about a better society where guns are not misused so regularly. This universal message is what Utah lawmakers should be promoting and what Lil Wayne should be rapping about.
When I think about what state symbols should be, I think of the seal of New York State, which prominently features to two divine-looking women, incarnations of Justice and Liberty.
The seal dates back to 1778, when guns were an everyday necessity for colonial Americans both for survival and war. Yet, the only weapon that appears in the elaborate seal is a small sword in one of Justice’s hands.
Why didn’t our forefathers put a gun there? It’s because they knew that we must always strive for something more refined and rise above the failure of our own humanness. Even to this day, the New York State motto is “excelsior,” which can be translated to mean “ever upward.”
If you guessed the handgun, congratulations, you are right!
As it turns out, the elk, beehive, and square dance are official symbols of the state of Utah while the handgun is only in the process of becoming a Utah state symbol. The handgun in question, a Browning M1911, is also the only one of the four designed and used to kill people. Does the whole thing sound like a sick joke? Unfortunately, it’s not.
The Browning M1911 was invented by Utah resident John Moses Browning in 1911. Legislation making this handgun a state symbol in Utah just passed a committee in its Senate on Monday, after previously passing the state’s House of Representatives. The next step is for it to face a full vote in front of the Senate, according to the Associated Press.
I ask you to forget which side of the gun control/gun rights debate you find yourself on and take an honest look at Utah’s proposed state symbol. You’ll find it is appalling.
While combating enemies in times of war and protecting against criminals are completely legitimate uses of guns, the fact remains that handguns (not hunting rifles) are meant to mutilate human life. For example, should we make a newly discovered form of cancer a state symbol since it keeps American researchers employed? Of course not.
Lawmakers in Utah are lying to themselves if they think they are doing something good for their state or country by proposing that a death symbol represent their home. What they have actually done is put themselves in the same boat as rapper Lil Wayne, who seems to brag about owning a gun and shooting someone in his Billboard hit, Right Above It.
“I got my gun in my boo purse / And I don’t bust back, because I shoot first,” raps Lil Wayne.
Can’t we ensure our state lawmakers and Grammy-award winning entertainers are above the idiocy of gun imagery? If you don’t vote for it and don’t buy it, they won’t do it.
The country needs to take a cue from the Senate of New York. Last week, Sen. Eric Adams from Brooklyn launched a campaign against gun violence.
Adams made an instructional video that educates parents on ways to check their children’s bedrooms for guns. The campaign is also following up with billboards around the city.
“Gun violence is all too prevalent in our society,” Adams said. “It is a plague, and we must dedicate ourselves to its eradication.”
While Adams is proposing gun control legislation, which you may or may not agree with, he is leading his campaign with a message about a better society where guns are not misused so regularly. This universal message is what Utah lawmakers should be promoting and what Lil Wayne should be rapping about.
When I think about what state symbols should be, I think of the seal of New York State, which prominently features to two divine-looking women, incarnations of Justice and Liberty.
The seal dates back to 1778, when guns were an everyday necessity for colonial Americans both for survival and war. Yet, the only weapon that appears in the elaborate seal is a small sword in one of Justice’s hands.
Why didn’t our forefathers put a gun there? It’s because they knew that we must always strive for something more refined and rise above the failure of our own humanness. Even to this day, the New York State motto is “excelsior,” which can be translated to mean “ever upward.”
Evan Mantyk lives in New York City and can be reached at [email protected]
