SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah lawmakers are once again flirting with controversy surrounding the holiday dedicated to Martin Luther King Jr.
Sen. Mark Madsen, R-Eagle Mountain, is introducing legislation that would create a holiday for Utah icon John Moses Browning. Because the gun pioneer's birthday falls on or near Jan. 21 (the date is also often listed as Jan. 23), Madsen proposes doubling up Browning and King -- who is celebrated on the third Monday in January in Utah.
"I see them as complementary," he said. Browning is known for developing a variety of guns, including the gas-operated machine gun. Madsen said he plans to meet with the NAACP to discuss his proposal.
"We'll see if they can take it in the spirit it's intended," he said.
The organization did not immediately return a call and e-mail on Wednesday seeking comment. Utah went several years with a Human Rights Day -- purposely omitting King's name. It was eventually renamed in 2000.
The concept of a dual holiday with King is not unprecedented. Madsen grew up in Virginia, where Lee-Jackson Day was combined with Martin Luther King Day in 1984. They were split up 16 years later after debate about whether two Confederate generals should be sharing a holiday with civil rights' most recognizable figure.
For Madsen and other Senate Republicans, such as Majority Leader Scott Jenkins, R-Plain City, guns don't equal violence.
"Guns keep peace," Jenkins said. "I kind of like the idea of making his birthday a holiday. I'm all over that."
Madsen isn't stuck on King's holiday, saying that it was only because of the closeness of Browning's birthday that he chose it in the first place. He wants Browning's holiday to be the same as an established holiday so it can get the recognition he feels it deserves.
"If the race-baiters are out there looking for an opportunity, I'm not going to give it to them," he said. "I'll walk away and find another day."
Comments