laina Schmit of Bismarck speaks to the Senate Education Committee Jan. 18 in support of designating curling as the state sport.

Thanks to young lobbyists, a bill to make curling North Dakota’s state sport is on its way to the governor for his signature.

However, North Dakota House members declined Wednesday to designate the Winchester 1876 as the state rifle.

The North Dakota House voted 72-21 on Wednesday to pass Senate Bill 2229 and adopt curling as the state sport. Reps. Jon Nelson, R-Rugby, and Eric James Murphy, R-Grand Forks, urged support, given the persistent efforts of the young people backing the bill. Two 11-year-old curling fans, Alaina Schmit and Etta Knapp from Bismarck, testified in committee and kept the pressure on legislators over the ensuing weeks.

“I have not been lobbied so hard by somebody who clearly has skills in the art of convincing,” said Murphy, who admitted he had opposed the bill initially.

“They came forward. Nobody else did. Let’s let them succeed in this,” Nelson said.

The Senate had approved the bill 30-17 in January.

According to information provided to legislators, North Dakota has 11 curling clubs – more per capita than any other state. Started in Scotland in the 16th century, curling officially became a competitive sport in the early 1800s and was flourishing in the United States by 1855. The first club in North Dakota was in Drayton in 1901.

Williston hosted the North Dakota High School Curling Championship last week. In 2022, the North Dakota’s 18U girls team won the national championship, and in 2019, North Dakota State University won the College Curling National Championship. Bismarck hosted the 2002 World Curling Championships under chairman Jon Mielke, who was inducted into the USA Curling Hall of Fame in 2012. Advocates say the game can be played by anyone, citing as an example the World Wheelchair Mixed Double Championships that took place recently.

Before embracing curling, the House rejected designating a state rifle on a 34-59 vote.

“My opposition is not about guns in general. It’s about this gun and versions of it,” said Rep. Jayme Davis, D-Rolette. The Winchester 1876 was designed to shoot buffalo, she said.

“And did it ever. It was used to take so many buffalo that it almost wiped them out. In doing so, it had a direct correlation with the indigenous people of this land,” she said.

Rep. Mary Schneider, D-Fargo, asked the House to weigh Davis’ concerns against committee testimony that came only from the resolution’s sponsor on behalf of a constituent, who did not appear but submitted written remarks.

“Our state flower and our state bird have never been a source of anguish or pain or carnage or starvation or death. So we appreciate and value those. But we probably do not need this weapon to be a symbol of our state,” Schneider said.