Petition Congress to create a John Moses Browning holiday

A fitting tribute to a great American gun designer and patriot

By Tim Inwood

The other day while perusing the pages of The High
Road I learned that a petition is being circulated to create a
national holiday and postage stamp to celebrate the
life of John Moses Browning.

Interesting idea -
an uphill battle will lie ahead of that, I thought to myself. I
can see the anti-gunners fighting this idea tooth and
nail. The idea of honoring the life of a gun maker
would truly cause them to have a conniption. Perhaps
the very reason to pursue this, I thought.

No, not the
having a conniption part, but the idea of paying homage to the
legitimate and much needed talent of America’s gun
designers and manufacturers.

No matter how the
anti-gunners try to vilify and defame the American gun
makers, it must be remembered the private gun industry
arms the “Arsenal of Democracy”, and we need them to
protect our country. Such recognition for one of them
would be a point of pride. A tribute to how we need
such genius, not just in our past, but for all time.
Getting such recognition through Congressional
approval will indeed be the battle. However, given the fact that Congress
has spent time on such trivial tripe over the years, demanding they recognize the contributions of
John Browning should not be considered unreasonable.
After all the man designed some of the best weapons
that protected the Republic in the nineteenth,
twentieth and even the opening decade of the twenty-first century. That is indeed a feat. But there again,
so is getting something through Government red
tape…something I know a fair amount about...

Click on 'Read More' for the entire commentary.

In the summer of 1977 when I was at the tender age
of 14 my parents took me on my first visit to
Washington D.C. It was a busy week as the Shah of Iran
was in town to visit Jimmy Carter; this was months
before the collapse of the Shah and the rise of the
Ayatollah Khomeini. As you can imagine, the protestors
were out in force and Washington D.C. was somewhat
chaotic, so this was a trip I remember well. I was
looking forward to seeing my government in action.

When we entered the U.S. Capitol I was awestruck by the
majesty of the building, the paintings and sculpture.
The first I remember of encountering metal detectors
was only outside the House and Senate Galleries. The
magnetometers were not set too low that day as they
did not pick up the Boy Scout pocket knife I had. It
was a more innocent time. Today that little knife
would cause a panic. Upon entering the Senate chamber
gallery I was pleased to see a debate was taking
place. I can still see in my mind’s eye, Senator Bob
Dole and Senator Robert Byrd debating on the floor.
The pressing issue of the day? National Flower day.
Senators rose and spoke on why National Flower day
should be this day or that and in what month it should
be observed. It was heated at times and to my 14 year-old mind rather silly. With all apologies to all
florists reading this, I was immediately deflated and
somewhat flabbergasted with Congress, a condition that
exists to this day. Here I was in my nation's capitol to see the Senate in action
for the first time, and the debate was over something
so frivolous (especially when one considered what was
going on outside with the Shah’s visit).

As I look
back on that visit and my years of service to Uncle
Sam years later, I must say I concluded many years
back there is a huge amount of bluster and waste in
Washington D.C. In fact I think at least 2/3rds if not
more of what we send in the form of taxes paid is flat
outright wasted - something I much resent. So I think
those blowhards in Washington owe me just one little
whim: a day remembering one of the greatest gun
designers in American History, John Moses Browning.

Now what I am suggesting is not a national holiday, but
a day of recognition. An observance on January 23
would be nice and fitting. John Moses Browning was born in Ogden, Utah on
January 23, 1855. His parents were Mormons and his
father a gunsmith and designer in his own right. John
would grow up to one of the greatest gun designers in
American History. Granted Sam Colt’s revolvers were
very important and the contributions of Horace Smith
and Dan Wesson should not be over looked, but I have
always had a weak spot for the designs of Browning. He
designed rifles and shotguns for Winchester and
Remington. Famous designs such as the Winchester 1886,
1892, 1894 lever guns came from his fertile mind. He
supposedly got the idea for his first gas operated
machine gun from watching the gases from a rifle blow
down grass as he was firing a rifle while hunting. He
thought he could harness the power of that wasted gas
to operate the action of the gun. Sure enough, he
built a gun based on this premise using an old
Winchester lever action rifle. He put a perforated
cupped flapper attached to an arm attached to a hinge
near the muzzle that went back and connected to the
lever that now had a pin attached to trip the trigger.

The design worked. In fact the NRA warned us all over
a decade ago that BATF planned to use new language
that would legally define all of our lever action deer
rifles as machine guns. How, you ask? The BATF was
contemplating saying if it can be turned into a
machine gun then it is a machine gun. The NRA
demonstrated the danger of this by going into great
detail how Browning took a common Winchester lever gun
and made it full auto in a matter of hours in his
workshop in Utah. The article helped head off this
language being adopted.

Browning designs were equally appreciated by
civilians and the US Military. In fact his designs
served as military arms early on. The Colt 1895
“Potato Digger” machine gun came from his drawing
boards. It saw service in the Spanish American war and
also in World War I. The Winchester 1897 was a rarity
in that it was Browning’s own correction of
shortcomings in his earlier Winchester 1893 shotgun.
The 1897 served in the Spanish American war and was
very much appreciated in the Philippines where the gun
was employed against Moro tribesmen who rebelled
against the American occupation. The 1897 would also
see action in WWI, WWII and Korea. His water-cooled
1917 machine gun and his water cooled heavy .50BMG
arrived just as WWI was ending. His own son Val
Browning demonstrated his Fathers BAR squad section
automatic in France for the Allies. It too arrived
late in the war but would go on to serve the U.S. well
in WWII and Korea. His air-cooled 1919 machine gun in
its various forms was the standard machine gun of the
United States in World War II and Korea. His Colt 1903
.32 auto pocket pistol was the issue arm to Generals
in World War II. His legacy today is the continued
use of his air-cooled M2 .50 caliber machine gun.
This heavy machine gun has served the United States
for decades and will continue to do so for some time.
It has been put to great use in the Global War on
Terror and I am sure most reading this have seen the
impressive results of being on the wrong end of a
.50BMG round as it heads down range. Our enemies are
meeting Allah in large numbers thanks to this heavy
machine gun.

The 1911 pistol is nearing celebrating
its one hundredth birthday. Despite its age, this
classic pistol design continues to soldier on in the
holsters of many troops in Iraq and Afghanistan (not to mention many a CHL-holder back home!). As
many of you may recall in the aftermath of the capture
of Saddam Hussein, there stood an American Colonel
wearing a tanker holster and clearly he was carrying
an old Colt 1911A1 pistol. It seemed fitting that such
an icon was present at the capture of the tyrant.
Though the 1911 is no longer in general service, the
Marines in particular have hung on to as many .45
1911s as they could. The Marine Corps MEU SOC pistol
is a much-modified 1911 pistol that has served for
more than a decade. A few years ago the Marines
decided they wanted a pistol with an accessories rail
and cast about for what they call the Interim Close
Quarters Battle pistol (ICQB) and purchased Kimber and
Springfield Armory pistols made to those
specifications. These have gone to the Marine Corps
Detachment 1. These great pistols are now available on
the commercial market as the Kimber Warrior and the
Springfield Armory Marine Corps Operator pistol.

So, as I noted, while the other gun designers are important in
our history, none of their designs continue to serve
to protect the United States, whereas John Browning’s
designs continue to serve. This despite the fact the
man died in 1926. It is truly a tribute to his genius
that his designs were so good that 81 years after his
death they continue their service. So while we might
have our own favorite designers, from Sam Colt to
Eugene Stoner, I think it would be impossible to get
Congress to pay tribute to all of them. But I think
they would be pleased to see an official recognition
of one of them that really can be considered a nod to
all for all they have done for the defense of our
country. Not to mention helping the American citizen
defend themselves from criminals with their commercial
designs.

Click here to add your name to an online petition asking COngress to act on this great idea.

If the idea of signing a online petition makes you
uneasy remember you can directly contact your members
of Congress here and ask them to support this idea:

http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/Legislative.shtml

Tim Inwood is the current Legislative Liaison and Past President of the Clinton County Farmers and Sportsmen Association, a Life Member of the NRA and OGCA, and a volunteer for Buckeye Firearms Association.