This is an interesting thread, if only because it illustrates the seemingly increasingly DECREASING amount of familiarity and knowledge by many owners of the mentioned handguns nowadays ...
When I was growing up, if anyone owned a 1911, you can bet they were probably familiar with it because either THEY were trained to use it in wartime circumstances ... or SOMEONE in their family had been, and had carefully passed on the knowledge AND interest in the proper and safe use of one ...
Nowadays, being a firearms instructor involved in training a lot of young people in their 20's & 30's, I'm simply amazed at the number of people who lack knowledge & familiarity with our nation's venerable and pre-eminent close quarters personal defensive sidearm of several decades ...
I actually had someone come back from one of the well known firearms schools and tell me all about how the latest and newest thing for L/E special weapons folks was the "1911" .45 ACP. This, from someone that didn't realize ... or maybe remember ... that the standard blued Colt 1911 was the SWAT service weapon in his agency many years ago. They appeared similarly surprised to hear that LAPD SWAT has continuously used them, as well ...
What's old is now new again, so to speak ...
Each of the current firearm's instructors for my agency owns at least one personal 1911 of some sort or another ... and a couple of us own several ... and the head range master & armorer builds some VERY NICE 1911's, and will do so for anyone that ASKS NICELY ...
Considering the apparent current state of firearms owner awareness, familiarization, knowledge and training regarding "cocked & locked" pistols ... I'd have to say that I don't think it's probably a wise idea for anyone to carry a cocked & locked 1911 variant without some form of proper training ...
While we've never "required" it of our folks who qualified with a personally owned 1911-type off duty weapon, we've instituted a policy that someone carrying one ON DUTY must attend an in-service training class on them, including range sessions supervised by instructors familiar with the safe, proper, and effective handling and use of 1911's ... and then carry them in proper holsters on & off duty ... and yes, they're carried cocked & locked.
We're hoping to have policy changed to allow for optional, personally owned weapons being carried for general on duty use, which would authorize a number of modern semiauto pistol designs, including DA/SA, SA (cocked & locked), and some of the variants, such as the"Safe Action" (short-stroke DAO) Glocks, and probably a few others. The different size, strength and "personal needs" of many of the folks entering L/E nowadays ... and the very real potential for "disparate impact" lawsuits ... would appear to be better addressed by allowing suitable personally owned weapons to be employed. Talk about an uphill battle, though ... and please don't bring up the idea of "ammunition commonality" when it comes to L/E use.
It makes about as much sense for common L/E use as it does if it were to be required that all CCW folks must carry a common caliber in case L/E needs to commandeer CCW ammunition during an emergency. (Would you all be willing to accept an ammunition caliber restriction, for commonality's sake, in order to receive national CCW authorization, simply because it "made sense" to someone somewhere? Me neither.)
One thing I personally support is that if someone is going to carry a 1911-type weapon, then they should not only be properly trained in the safe handling, carrying and shooting of them ... but they should probably limit themselves to carrying primarily only that type of weapon because of the specific manipulation required to disengage the thumb safety, and properly grip the weapon in order to deactivate the grip safety. (An exception to this would be carrying an easy-to-use secondary weapon, such as a short barreled revolver, as remembering to use a DA revolver under stress isn't a difficult to maintain skill ... with proper training, of course).
It's "interesting" to watch someone have a subcompact 1911-type weapon fail to fire because the "different" size & shape of the grip, combined with THAT specific shooter's grip, resulted in the grip safety NOT being deactivated ... "But I don't have a problem with my full size pistol?!?". Okay, but have you spent the necesary time to become familiar with your miniature, high-tech, gee-whiz 1911 ... just to see if its slightly different shape, size, grip dimensions, etc, required any accomodation on YOUR part, before you decided to start carrying it off duty? "Huh? I didn't think of that ..." No kidding.
If you're going to re-invent the wheel, try not to let it roll over your toes, you know?
If you're not comfortable with a certain type and design of weapon ... don't own it ... let alone legally carry one. There are probably a few others that will satisfy your needs, you know.
As someone else already mentioned, these are deadly weapons ... and it doesn't pay to have something like that around if you aren't conversant with how to handle, operate, carry and use it in a SAFE manner.
How many people that have a drivers license are able to safely drive a manual transmission equipped vehicle, especially in normal traffic conditions, including while having to "stop" while going uphill? Not everyone ... and those that can't probably don't own one, either, I'm betting.
As far as not carrying a 1911 with a chambered round? Well, that's a personal decision, and one that should probably be made after proper familiarization, training and experience in all aspects of owning, carrying and using a weapon of that design. An "informed" decision, as it were ...
A dull knife is a dangerous thing to have around, especially when you try to use it for any task which really calls for the use of a properly maintained and sharp knife ... in the hands of someone that has the knowledge, training and experience to effectively use it ...
