Idaho's State Gun Pick Sparks Backlash Over Rifle's History

Idaho voters picked the Winchester 1873 as the state's official gun, and Seattle alt-weekly The Stranger is not happy about it, calling the lever-action rifle the "evilest possible state gun" for its ties to westward expansion. Bearing Arms columnist Tom Knighton pushes back, arguing the whole premise is nonsense.

Key points

• The pick: Idaho voters selected the Winchester 1873, long marketed as "the gun that won the West," as the state's official firearm.
• The complaint: The Stranger argues the rifle's history is inseparable from the displacement of Indigenous peoples and calls it the worst option on the ballot.
• The counterpoint: Knighton notes other contenders, like the Single Action Army revolver and Remington 700, carry similarly loaded histories, making the "least evil" framing absurd on its face.
• The bigger argument: Bearing Arms stresses guns are tools with no moral agency, pointing out the 1873 was also used for hunting, home defense, and stopping crime, not just the harms critics cite.
• The context: The ballot question was reportedly added partly to drive midterm turnout, something Knighton is skeptical actually works.

Quick take

This is a manufactured outrage story, and it says more about the critic than the rifle. A lever-action from 1873 didn't commit any sins on its own; people did things with it, good and bad, same as any tool. Idaho gun owners probably shrugged this off the moment it hit their feed, and that's the right response.

Read the full story: bearingarms.com