Official U.S. State Firearms

Alaska's designation is unique: it specifies a production era, not just a model. The Pre-1964 Winchester Model 70 — designated via Senate Bill 175 in 2014 — is the only state firearm that requires a specific manufacturing vintage. Pre-1964 Model 70s used a hand-fitted controlled-round-feed action considered essential for stopping large dangerous game in Alaska's wilderness. The designation reflects Alaska's identity as North America's last true frontier.

Arizona's Colt Single Action Army revolver — designated by Senate Bill 1610 just weeks after Utah's M1911 — is the iconic 'Peacemaker' of the American West. Introduced in 1873 and in continuous production for over 150 years, the SAA defined the sheriff, the cowboy, and the outlaw of frontier legend. Arizona's choice honored the weapon that wrote the visual identity of the American West.

Indiana's designation is the most distinctive in the country. The Grouseland Rifle — designated by Senate Enrolled Act 209 in 2012 — is a specific surviving artifact crafted by Colonel John Small, Indiana's first sheriff. Only a handful of Small's rifles survive. The designated rifle is on display at Grouseland mansion in Vincennes, the former home of President William Henry Harrison. No other state has named a specific individual firearm, by provenance, as its state symbol.

Kentucky designated the Kentucky Long Rifle in 2013 via House Bill 239. The long rifle earned its name from Kentucky and Tennessee frontiersmen who used it with devastating effect at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. The historical irony: the rifle was actually invented and manufactured in Pennsylvania by German immigrant craftsmen. Kentucky claims the legend; Pennsylvania claims the origin. Both designations are historically legitimate.

Missouri is the most recent state to join the list, designating the Hawken Rifle via Senate Bill 139 in July 2023. The Hawken was built by brothers Jacob and Samuel Hawken at their St. Louis gunshop starting in the 1820s. St. Louis was the literal gateway to the American West — the starting point of both the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails — and the Hawken was the weapon every mountain man needed to survive beyond it.

Pennsylvania designated the Pennsylvania Long Rifle via House Bill 1989 in 2014 — claiming the origin story that Kentucky's designation implied but did not state. The rifle was invented circa 1740 by German immigrant craftsmen, most notably Martin Meylin, in Lancaster County. HB 1989 was itself unusual: it began as a bill to designate the Piper J-3 Cub as the state aircraft, and the long rifle designation was added as a last-minute amendment.

Tennessee's designation of the Barrett M82 via HJR 0231 in 2016 stands apart from every other entry on this list. It is not a historical artifact — it is a current-production .50 BMG semi-automatic rifle used by military forces in over 60 countries. Designed by Ronnie Barrett of Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1982 and built at Barrett Firearms Manufacturing to this day, it represents Tennessee's claim as a center of living innovation, not just heritage.

Texas designated the 1847 Colt Walker revolver via Senate Concurrent Resolution 8 in 2021. The Walker was co-designed by Texas Ranger Captain Samuel H. Walker and Samuel Colt in 1847 — the partnership that saved Colt's company from bankruptcy and produced the most powerful production revolver ever made. Approximately 160 of the original 1,100 revolvers survive; authenticated examples sell at auction for $500,000 to over $1 million.

Utah was first. The Browning M1911 pistol, designated via House Bill 219 in 2011, was designed by John Moses Browning — born in Ogden, Utah in 1855 — and served as the U.S. military's standard sidearm for 74 consecutive years, through World War I, World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Utah chose the centennial of the pistol's adoption to make the designation permanent.

West Virginia's Hall Model 1819 Flintlock Rifle — designated via Senate Concurrent Resolution 7 in 2013 — represents two revolutions simultaneously. It was the first breech-loading rifle adopted by any national military. And it was produced at the Harpers Ferry Armory using precision machine tools that proved, for the first time, that firearms could be assembled from fully interchangeable parts — the founding moment of American industrial mass production.

Montana has perhaps the strongest cultural case of any non-designating state. The Sharps rifle — the 'Big Fifty' of the 1870s — was the primary tool of the buffalo hunters who opened the Northern Plains. Montana's identity is inseparable from that history. But Montana's legislature has not moved forward with a designation, directing political energy toward substantive firearms policy rather than symbolic declarations.

Wyoming, the self-styled 'Cowboy State,' has never designated a state firearm despite having an obvious candidate in the Winchester Model 1873 — 'The Gun That Won the West.' The Winchester was chambered in the same cartridge as the Colt SAA, making it the natural paired companion to Arizona's already-designated state firearm. Wyoming's legislature has considered the question but has not acted.

Idaho sits at the intersection of the mountain man rifle tradition, the Lewis and Clark expedition, and the Nez Perce warrior culture — all of which have distinct associated firearms. But Idaho has not designated a state firearm. The state's overwhelmingly rural legislature is not opposed in principle; the designation simply has not been a legislative priority.

The 10 states that have designated firearms share a common political profile: rural-majority or rural-leaning legislatures, strong hunting cultures, and governors willing to sign. The 40 states without designations represent the rest of the spectrum — not necessarily opposition, but the absence of the specific alignment of will, timing, and champion legislator that turns a good idea into enacted law.

For every state that has passed a state firearm designation, several others have introduced bills that stalled, died in committee, or failed on the floor. The pattern is consistent: bills tend to fail in states with larger urban populations, divided legislatures, or governors unwilling to sign. The same bill that passes 55-17 in a rural-majority legislature fails 48-52 in a chamber where suburban districts hold the balance of power.

New Hampshire, home to one of the strongest gun cultures in the Northeast, has seen proposals to designate the Model 1895 Winchester or a colonial-era musket as the state firearm. Bills have repeatedly cleared initial committee hearings but failed to advance, reflecting the state's complex mix of libertarian-leaning gun rights voters and a legislature with divided suburban representation.

Colorado introduced state firearm legislation in the early 2010s, during the same wave that saw six other states pass designations. The bills did not advance, in part due to the political shift in Colorado's legislature following rapid population growth in the Denver metro area. Colorado's experience illustrates how demographic change can close windows that once appeared open.

Opposition to state firearm bills follows predictable lines. Critics argue the designations are politically symbolic rather than historically meaningful, that they normalize firearm culture in official state identity, or that the legislative time would be better spent elsewhere. In states where these arguments carry majority weight, the bills don't pass. The 10 states that have succeeded share a common feature: a legislature where the historical and cultural case for the specific firearm overcame those objections.

No firearm appears more often in American cinema than the Colt Single Action Army. It is the default 'Western revolver' in hundreds of films, from John Ford's classics to Clint Eastwood's spaghetti Westerns to Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight. Its silhouette — the long barrel, the exposed hammer, the curved grip — is one of the most recognizable shapes in popular culture.

Robert Redford's 1972 film Jeremiah Johnson brought the Hawken Rifle to mainstream audiences. The film follows a mountain man in the Rocky Mountains, and the Hawken is his constant companion — used for hunting, survival, and ultimately warfare. The film is considered one of the most accurate portrayals of mountain man life ever made.

The Coen Brothers' True Grit (2010) prominently features a Colt Walker revolver, emphasized specifically for its enormous size and frightening power. The weapon's impracticality — it is genuinely difficult to shoot accurately due to its weight — becomes part of the character of the story.

The Barrett M82 is one of the most recognized firearms in video games, appearing in every major Call of Duty title. In film, it appears in Sniper (1993) and its sequels, American Sniper (2014), and dozens of action movies. Its distinctive muzzle brake and massive scale make it instantly identifiable even to audiences with no firearms knowledge.