In a non-binding advisory vote that played out alongside far more consequential ballot fights, Idaho voters chose the Winchester Model 1873 lever-action rifle — the firearm long marketed as “the Gun that Won the West” — as their preferred candidate for the state’s official gun, according to unofficial results released Wednesday by the Idaho Secretary of State’s Office, the Idaho Capital Sun reported. The Model 1873, chambered in .44-40, captured 31.1% of the vote, or 164,394 ballots, the highest share among six historic firearms that appeared on Tuesday’s general election ballot.
The result now tees up a decision for the Idaho Legislature, which could vote to join the ten other states that have designated official state guns. Yet the advisory question arrived with a built-in asterisk: none of the six weapons secured a majority of votes, and the measure drew significantly fewer ballots than any other statewide item on the ballot.
A Plurality Victory in a Crowded Field
All 44 of Idaho’s counties had reported election results by 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Winchester Model 1873 finished ahead of the Winchester Model 1894, which took 25.32% of the vote (133,859 ballots); the 1873 Colt Single Action Army “Peacemaker” revolver, with 15.26% (80,699 votes); the Remington Model 700 bolt-action rifle, at 12.45% (65,818 votes); the Colt M1911 automatic pistol, with 8.78% (46,405 votes); and the M1 Garand rifle, which placed last with 7.09% (37,500 votes). The spread between first and last place stretched across nearly 127,000 votes, reflecting a field with no consensus choice.
The Legislature placed the question on the ballot through House Bill 932 in a unanimous vote earlier this year, Big Country News Connection reported, citing the bill’s official legislative record. Despite that bipartisan backing, the gun question attracted the lowest participation rate of any statewide measure: roughly 70% of the more than 731,000 voters who turned out cast ballots on the advisory question, compared with nearly 99% who voted on Proposition 1 — the rejected initiative seeking to repeal Idaho’s near-total abortion ban — and about 97% who weighed in on each of two constitutional amendments, one successfully declaring English the state’s official language and another failing to strip voters of the power to legalize marijuana and other drugs, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.
“I pushed to put the question on the ballot to help drum up voter turnout,” House Majority Leader Jason Monks, R-Meridian, said in an interview last month.
Overall, about 69% of Idaho’s registered voters cast ballots in the midterm election — a turnout rate officials described as high for a non-presidential year, though they expect the final figure to drop several points once voters who registered on Election Day are factored into the denominator, the Idaho Capital Sun reported.
No Home-State Advantage
Idaho’s ballot stood in contrast to those in states like Utah, where the designated state gun has direct developmental roots in the state, a distinction highlighted on Utah’s official state symbols page. None of the six firearms on Idaho’s ballot were designed or manufactured within the state’s borders. If lawmakers move to formalize a choice, the designation would join a roster of official symbols that includes the syringa as the state flower, the star garnet as the state gem, and the Idaho giant salamander as the state amphibian, all catalogued on the Idaho Secretary of State’s symbols page.
The Winchester Model 1873, first produced in 1873 and chambered in the powerful .44-40 cartridge, became a fixture of frontier life and popular culture, earning its “Gun that Won the West” nickname through decades of use by settlers, lawmen, and soldiers. If Idaho declared a state gun, the recognition would grow the list of officially declared state symbols, like the state flower, the syringa; the state gem, the star garnet; or the state amphibian, the Idaho giant salamander.
The vote unfolded in a state with some of the nation’s most permissive gun laws: Idaho, controlled by a Republican supermajority, has strong protections for gun ownership — such as not requiring permits for concealed carry in city limits. The advisory question, while non-binding, offers legislators a clear read on voter sentiment among the six options — a sentiment that, for now, favors the lever-action rifle over its competitors.
The vote carries no legal force, and no schedule has been announced for the Legislature to consider a formal designation. Voters can track the certified results on the Idaho Secretary of State’s official results portal.
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