Update 6-1-2023 – The bill was added to SB139 and passed the Senate. Now it is just waiting for the Governor to sign it into law. Here is the latest text of the complete bill: https://legiscan.com/MO/text/SB139/id/2811640/Missouri-2023-SB139-Enrolled.pdf
This week Missouri State Representatives, Mazzie Boyd and Doug Clemens, presented their bills, HB224 and HB 530, before the Missouri House Tourism Committee. These are identical bills and they propose to name the Hawken rifle as the official state rifle for Missouri. Art Ressel, Paul Fennewald, Brian Flowers, and Kyle Carrol presented testimony as to why these bills should be passed. You can watch the complete hearing below:
The March 2023 issue of MuzzleBlast has an article about how both Tennessee and Missouri are currently attempting to pass bills adopting the Tennessee Longrifle and the Hawken Rifle as official state rifles, respectively.
Gemmer Muzzleloading Gun Club member, Bob Browner, is currently building a reproduction of a Hawken rifle that will be potentially presented to the Governor as part of the celebration once this bill is approved. We would like to tie all of this into the Hawken Classic held August 25-27, 2023 at the Historic Daniel Boone Home in Defiance, Missouri.
