State gun just a start for Utah-born inventors

In just a few weeks, the Utah State Legislature, 2011 version, will debate a proposal by Rep. Carl Wimmer, R-Herriman, that the Browning model 1911 handgun, invented right here in Utah exactly 100 years ago by John Moses Browning, be officially adopted as the state gun.

The M1911, acknowledged as the world's first and most popular automatic pistol, has been used in every war America has fought since 1911 and was the standard-issue firearm for the United States armed forces from 1911 to 1985. The gun's inventor, John Moses Browning, was born in Ogden and is arguably the most prolific and greatest firearms developer of all time.

Opinions are sure to vary about giving state status to something that has played a hand in more deaths than perhaps any weapon known to mankind.

But whether the state firearm passes muster or not, Rep. Wimmer has opened the door to all sorts of possibilities for notable inventions by Utahns.

Legislators might also consider:

State Appliance: Television, invented by Philo T. (as in T.V.) Farnsworth, Beaver.

Farnsworth was born in Indian Creek, a suburb of Beaver, in 1906. When he was a teenager, living in Rigby, Idaho, he got the brainstorm that ultimately led to the invention of "electronic TV" in 1927. He died fairly early, at age 64 in 1971, but not before he watched Neil Armstrong step onto the moon — on live television.

State Videogame: Pong, invented by Nolan Bushnell, Clearfield.

As high tech as it got when he invented it in 1972, Pong was the first truly addictive videogame. It hooked a nation and made millions — in 1975 alone, Pong had sales of $40 million — for Bushnell, a former Lagoon employee when he was in high school. He started the Atari Corp., which sold to Warner Communications for $28 million. He also is the founder of Chuck-E-Cheese Pizza-Time Theaters, the chain of kid-friendly pizza-and-video arcades which, come to think of it, could qualify for designation as the State Cheapest Pizza But You're Still Broke When You Leave Restaurant.

State Toy: Frisbee, invented by Walter Frederick "Fred" Morrison, Richfield.