"Isn't a real good choice as a conflict resolution device"---Does he say this about the 1911 specifically or all pistols in general? Mas Ayoob has a 1911 signature model, so you are going to have a hard time convincing me that those were his exact words without elaborating. This is also a pretty pointless statement considering that the police have carried riot guns and AR-15s for years now.
"The platform was designed 100 years ago and there are better tools available today"---Which pistol has a better trigger out of the box and points more naturally than a 1911 for the vast majority of people who shoot for the sheer fun of it? These are the same people who buy what they want, which is very different from those who can't wait to get out of police academy so they can have a badge and a Glock. Again, if you are going to debate back up your statement with fact and not hearsay.
I feel this must be said, and said because its a fact we 'gun people' tend to forget-the average Joe and Jane Lawman is not on our level of gun knowledge. Furthermore one size gun and bullet does NOT fit all.
Oh sure, there are many LEOs who can debate this topic until Judgement Day, but many police and military stick their M9s and G22's in their holsters at start of shift, and put them up at the end of shift.That's it. Jeff Cooper once said a marksman has to choose to pursue firearms knowledge-no organization can 'force' someone to be a great shooter.
Its easy to say 'everyone gets a .45 1911'. Its a lot harder to get a team of people who aren't interested very much in target shooting to take time to master a platform like that. A LEO with only a casual interest in gun handling can pick up a Glock 22 .40 S&W and be trained shoot it reasonably well,as there isn't much in the owners manual beyond point and shooting it. Ditto for a policeman with a S&W 5906 or Beretta 92.
However...an LEO with a casual attitude towards their duty 1911 is a disaster waiting to happen for all parties.Good luck drawing and accurately firing a .45 ACP 1911 under life or death stress when the last time you handled it was 6 months ago.
"but Silversmok3, the 1911 was the premier pistol of the Armed Forces and police for decades in the past?"
I would submit that this was a different country back then.Not only were citizens not afraid of firearms, even casual laypeople knew the four rules and had basic exposure to firearms.Training someone to handle a 1911 back then took less work ,less money,and much less risk from PR kool-aid drinking spineless toads above the troops using them.
Today being the 'gun guy' in the military gets you strange looks from your squadron mates,the four rules are relegated to Facebook posting etiquette,and a majority of recruits from urban America into the military have never touched an actual firearm prior to basic , much less fired one.I cannot see police recruiters doing much better.
In the so called
modern age of still needing to get the job done with smaller training budgets, larger legal budgets,and a recruitment base ignorant of basic gun handling experience the use of 9mm Glocks and DA/SA firearms makes sense.
As for Myself?A Cocked and locked Taurus until I get the scratch for a quality USA made 1911.
