Texas’s Official State Handgun?

Most states have a state motto, state flower, state bird and other basic things like that. Texas has a state sport (rodeo), a state mammal (take a guess….it’s the Texas longhorn) and a state tree (the pecan). But it doesn’t yet have a state handgun. That might change soon though!

Rep. Mike Lang, R-Granbury has introduced a resolution that would designate the 1847 Colt Walker pistol, used in the Mexican-American War, as the state handgun of Texas.  Lang’s chief of staff, Zachary Maxwell, said designating the state handgun would be a “fun thing to do.”

The gun does have a long history in Texas going back to the 1840s. At that time, Samuel Colt and a Texas Ranger named Samuel Walker designed the weapon to be the weapon of choice for the Texas Rangers, which was considered to be the first state law enforcement agency in the country. Only 1, 100 of those pistols, often referred to as the Colt Walker or the Walker Colt, were produced. It’s a pretty large gun too…It weighed 4.5 pounds with a 9-inch barrel and was loaded with a rotating cylinder containing black powder and six rounds.

Only eight other states have designated guns: Utah, Alaska, West Virginia, Indiana, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Kentucky. Texas would be the ninth if the legislation is approved. There’s no reason to think this won’t pass at this point. Furthermore, a separate piece of legislation introduced by Sen. Don Huffnes, R-Dallas, would designate the cannon as the official state gun. The Colt Walker would be the official state handgun. The Texas House’s Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee will have a hearing on these issues and is expected to approve both.

Image from San Antonio Express-News

Alamo historian and curator Bruce Winders holds a Colt Walker pistol, which was designed for use by the Texas Rangers by Samuel Colt and Rangers Capt. Samuel Hamilton Walker.