Idaho voters choose an official state gun
Thirty-one percent is not overwhelming, even if the headline says so. In a six-way contest, the Winchester Model 1873 won Idaho’s state-gun vote with a plurality, while the Model 1894 took about a quarter. That gap is real, but it also means most voters who cast a ballot preferred a different rifle. I don’t say that to diminish the result; it’s just the math.
State symbols are usually cheap and mostly harmless. They tell you what a place wants to celebrate about itself, and Idaho has picked a firearm with a lot of mythology attached. The Model 1873 is often called “the gun that won the West,” which is a story as much as a product description. Whether that belongs next to the state bird and state flower is a judgment call, and reasonable people will disagree.
What I’d want to know is whether this was an advisory vote and how many people actually participated. A symbolic designation doesn’t change any gun law, so the practical stakes are low. The cultural stakes are higher. Idaho is saying something about its self-image, and the 69 percent who didn’t back the winner are saying something too.