Senate panel votes to make historic rifle Indiana's official gun

INDIANAPOLIS | Indiana has a state tree (tulip), state flower (peony), state stone (Salem limestone) and perhaps soon, a state gun.

House Bill 1283 was amended by a Senate committee Wednesday to designate an 1805 rifle crafted by John Small, of the southwest Indiana city of Vincennes, the official gun of Indiana.

The 5-foot-long rifle features silver and brass inlay on its stock and barrel and currently is on display at Grouseland, the Vincennes home of William Henry Harrison when he was governor of Indiana Territory.

Small, a native of Ireland, served as a militia leader and was a noted gunsmith in the Northwest Territories, the area out of which Indiana, Illinois and several other states were formed.

He also operated a tavern alongside the Wabash River in Vincennes that served as Knox County's courthouse from 1790 to 1794 and was home of the 1813 session of the territorial legislature, according to the Indiana Historical Bureau.

Indiana became a state Dec. 11, 1816.

State Sen. John Waterman, R-Shelburn, proposed designating the Small rifle as the state's official gun.

If approved, Grouseland officials plan to sell replicas of the gun to raise money to restore the Harrison home.

The full Senate and House still must agree to the proposal before it can go to the governor.