Arizona legislators have proposed naming the Wild West-era Colt single action Army revolver as their official state gun. But the timing of the proposal has sparked an outcry from critics who say it is wrong to honor a deadly weapon less than two months after the Tucson shooting that wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) and cost six people their lives. Is this proposal disrespectful?
It is cruel to do this now: This move "seems to defy all logic," says James King in Phoenix New Times. An official state gun serves "literally no purpose." It's particularly "thoughtless" for Arizona's "gun nuts" to rally behind this plan now, so soon after "one of the most tragic mass shootings in American history."
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