How Bill Clinton Brought Back the 1911 Pistol

[vinnyg101]

How Bill Clinton Brought Back the 1911 Pistol

pjmedia.com/trending/2017/06/06/how-bill-clinton-brought-back-the-1911-pistol/
By Tom Knighton

Gun control laws are pointless, and here's all you need to know about that: From the early 1990s until 2016, guns in circulation in the U.S. just about doubled, while violent crime was just about cut in half.

Worse (for the gun grabbers), gun control laws often lead to outcomes the gun grabbers never intended:

In that post AWB [the Bill Clinton-era "Assault Weapon Ban"] world, you could still buy a GLOCK or a Beretta, but why would you? Unless you had a source of pre-ban magazines you felt screwed and cheated. Why carry a full size pistol that could hold 15 to 17 rounds of 9x19mm when by law you were limited to 10 rounds max?
All of a sudden the 1911 became popular again. It was a full size pistol that all of a sudden was “slim” and carried a cartridge with more “knock down” power. Eight rounds of .45 didn’t look bad compared to 10 rounds of 9×19. In that post-1994 market, everyone and their brother began cranking out 1911s.

Companies across the board updated the design and actually incorporated what used to be considered custom manufacturing processes into production guns. They made them work better, feed better, feel better. The 1911s of today are one hundred times better than most of those produced in the 1980s.

For many gun owners, the advantage of a 9mm handgun was the ammunition capacity. When Bill Clinton's silly law limited that capacity, it changed things for prospective buyers. As I described...

[Pilot321]

The 1994 AWB also led to the AR-15 gaining incredible popularity. Previously it was somewhat of a novelty.

[eyecanshoot]

How Bill Clinton Brought Back the 1911 Pistol

pjmedia.com/trending/2017/06/06/how-bill-clinton-brought-back-the-1911-pistol/
By Tom Knighton

Why carry a full size pistol that could hold 15 to 17 rounds of 9x19mm when by law you were limited to 10 rounds max?
...

I thought the AWB only limited new manufacture not carry.

I think the AWB made used guns with larger capacity mags more popular and expensive. I bought a police trade in 5906 during the ban. It came with two 15 round mags.

Browning started manufacturing the Hi Power in .40 S&W during this time. I'm sure other companies did similar.

[Delkal]

Don't forget the ban also started the change to the smaller concealed carry guns. Before the ban the trend was full sized pistols with higher capacity. Very few low capacity pocket pistols were available.

[jthrelf]

Don't forget the ban also started the change to the smaller concealed carry guns. Before the ban the trend was full sized pistols with higher capacity. Very few low capacity pocket pistols were available.

I would argue a shift towards smaller pistols was due to concealed carry becoming more popular across the nation (due to pro gun laws)

[Ecclectic Collector]

Article is click bait and only true from a very narrow perspective.

Some of us were alive and active in the gun world in 1994. Yes, the 10 round limit under the AWB law was an issue. But other than having to pay higher prices for standard cap magazines a person could get them.

As for the AR thing: maybe more to do with TV shows like A-Team, lots of vets serving in Desert Storm wanting something similar to the weapon they used on deployment, and a cheap proliferation of cheap AR clones. Prior to 1994 a lot of folks were buying the Chinese AKs. That supply got cut off with import bans.

As for the 1911: it never stopped being popular. In the 80s you could buy quality guns from companys like Detonics and Randall. In addition there were Llama and Star making 1911 like clones and even Norinco was doing a pretty good (not great) 1911 mil-spec gun.

There were plenty of compact semi-autos for CCW as well. Remember the M43 Firestar? How about FIE and the Titan line of small semi-autos? Beretta made a small frame version of the 92 line, S&W had its 39 series 2nd and then 3rd gen compacts. Glock had come out with the Model 19 as well. The H&K 7 was around. Heck, if you afford it you could even Get the Walther P5 or even smaller P5K.

Nope. Plenty of small autos, just weren't flying as high as the mega-sized large cap magazine pistols until Clinton's law sort of took the wind from from the fad.

[alpacaheat]

Giving Clinton credit for gun sales is like saying the Chevy Citation helped sell Corvettes.