Well, it's interesting to folks who have little or no other outside frame of reference. Nothing wrong with that, in and of itself.
I'm over on the other side of the aisle, meaning the significant influence I see is from firearms instructors on the LE side of the house. After all, I served as a LE firearms instructor for about 26 years, and the significant majority of my inside and outside training was with other LE instructors. Most of the people I've helped train and qual have been LE. (I did help teach private citizen classes periodically, for close to 10 years, for folks who were either getting their first CCW license or were renewing one, but that only added a few hundred people to the numbers I helped teach and qual over the years.)
I remember the days when LE firearms instructors were often pocketing a S&W 5-shot snub on their own time, but back in those days there were a lot more people with a revolver background.
In more recent years I've seen the trend of one or another compact or subcompact double stack being carried by off-duty instructors (and the distinction between one company's compact and another company's subcompact can be quite fuzzy, at times, too). The 1911 was still quite popular with the more experienced shooters, but again, the simplicity of the plastic double stack was seriously eating into the numbers of both traditional DA double stack guns (DA/SA) and the SA 1911 guns.
It's been interesting to see instructors who were previously carrying some double stack compact or subcompact decide to adopt one of the newer single stack subcompacts. Well, guys and gals who had to carry full-size double stacks on-duty, often wanted to lighten their load on their own time. The littler single stacks like the Shield and G43 have been appearing all over the place in instructor hands.
I've also seen an interesting number of LE instructors shifting to the 9mm, too, for both duty and off-duty. The reasons are often pretty simple. It's easier to shoot 9mm accurately, faster and more controllably, than the .40 & .45ACP. Modern JHP ammunition has benefited from design attention and efforts, too.
I've seen longtime 1911/.45 guys (including a former Gunsite instructor) make the shift to increasingly smaller plastic 9's for their own carry choices.
Of course, something else that merits a little attention is that the increase in the availability of smallish plastic .380's has also been nibbling into the off-duty (and secondary) market for LE users. Simply put, it's easier to slip a pocket-holstered LCP or Bodyguard into a jeans or jacket pocket than even some of the smallest subcompact 9mm single stacks, and those little plastic .380's have been making their presence felt, even among LE firearms instructors (as long as they aren't too small for their hands to hold and confidently manipulate
).
Me? I still like my 5-shot J-frames for casual retirement carry roles, but I also like a couple of LCP's I've added to my retirement CCW options. They fit in tighter and shorter pockets where I can't quite conceal a J-frame.
Sure, I'll still use one of my subcompact or compact 9's, .40's or .45's, and I do tend to like the smallish 9's, in both double and single stack configurations. I tend to look at them as slightly "improved" Chiefs Specials of newer times ... and my CS9 and CS45 ARE more modern Chiefs Specials (than the little revolvers).
Now, one thing I noticed in the linked video (which doesn't surprise me) is the selection of some pistols which don't see a lot of LE/Gov use. That's where non-LE instructors have more leeway, on the one hand. But on another hand, LE instructors can usually tend to benefit from carrying choices that have seen a fair amount of vetting and testing in the hands of LE/Gov users.
Also, LE instructors may also have the opportunity to become factory-trained armorers for a wide variety of the more "common" LE popular pistols choices. This can not only help them be more familiar with normal maintenance and any potential occasional repairs, but may give them some further insights into the normal operation and running of the better known LE/Gov pistols, and how well some of them can be expected to run under extended use conditions.
