How Bill Clinton Brought Back the 1911 Pistol

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 it to someone when there was talk of a new capacity law: if I’m only able to carry ten rounds, I want the ten biggest rounds I can handle.

This is just one example, of course. The assault weapons ban also had the effect of making the gun most likely to make a lefty wet their pants more effective, too.

The AR-15 was a popular rifle, but among the many arbitrary features determined to qualify a rifle as an “assault rifle” was the bayonet lug. Apparently, people in Washington thought there was a serious rash of drive-by bayonettings plaguing the United States.

Well, manufacturers produced a lot more AR-15s to comply with the new law, and customers lined up out the door. The result was market competition, satisfying the demand for new, better, cheaper guns.

When legislators pass laws in an attempt to circumvent the Second Amendment, they fail to account for the creativity of the American gun manufacturers and the knowledge of gun owners. They find a way to get around the law. In many cases, the workarounds are more “dangerous” than what was originally banned.

Frankly, I find it funny. I suspect Dianne Feinstein doesn’t … and I find that hilarious.