January was a momentous month for this country and for NRA-ILA. President Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States. It was the culmination of more than a year of hard work by NRA to help ensure a strong supporter of the Second Amendment returned to the White House after four years of an anti-gun absolutist holding the reins of power. (Or at least being the figurehead to the reins of power. To this day, I am still not sure who was calling the shots under the Biden-Harris regime.)
But now we have Trump again and there is a shared appreciation between this president and NRA. One day before his inauguration, he held a Make America Great Again rally in Washington, D.C., where he spoke to more than 20,000 energized supporters—as well as millions more who watched the event’s broadcast—taking time to thank his family, his team, his cabinet nominees and others who helped him win the election last November. He included the pro-Second Amendment community, with a specific shout-out noting “NRA worked really hard” to get him back into the White House.
With President Trump back, it did not take long to begin seeing a distinct shift in policy on the Second Amendment.
Fewer than 10 days into President Trump’s productive and energetic second term, we learned that the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP) had resumed the incredibly popular sales program for surplus U.S. Army M1911/M1911A1 .45-caliber pistols, after it had been suspended during the Biden-Harris administration. Even better, the sales process has been streamlined and shipping and handling (previously $25) is now free.
Back in 2015, then-President Barack Obama signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2016. That year’s NDAA included language that authorized the Secretary of Defense to transfer to the CMP up to 10,000 surplus .45-caliber M1911/M1911A1 pistols per year, for sale to the public. It also authorized a one-year pilot program to initiate the transfers and report on the results.
To the surprise of nobody in the firearm community, the anti-gun Obama-Biden administration failed to follow through on the program, claiming it was discretionary. Their arguments against proceeding, some based on outright falsehoods, were dutifully parroted by anti-gun media outlets.
NRA-ILA continued to lobby for the program until 2017, when President Trump signed the NDAA for 2018. Included in that law was a provision that required the surplus military 1911 pistols be made available for sale to the public.
The program launched in 2018, with annual rounds of 10,000 pistols made available. The CMP would wait until it had received 10,000 orders, then assign customers a randomly generated number (RGN). Customers would be contacted in numerical sequence with the grading and pricing options that were available at the time. The CMP developed special rules for these sales, with safeguards that exceeded the already strict processes that applied to its surplus rifle and ammunition sales. Each purchaser was limited to one pistol per calendar year and two pistols per lifetime.
Sales were halted in April 2024, during the Biden-Harris Administration, as the fourth round of sales was underway. The official explanation was that the results of an audit required further investigation, although it surely pleased Biden’s anti-gun supporters, among the few remaining stalwarts of a failing—and soon abandoned—re-election campaign.
On Jan. 29, however, it was announced the sales would resume. Initially, priority was given to those who had placed Round Four orders, for whom CMP honored the originally quoted prices. Subsequent sales have been occurring in an open, first-come, first-served format, with no further rounds or RGNs. While the lifetime limit of two pistols per customer remains in effect, both pistols may now be acquired in one order.
This is a win-win for the Second Amendment community and all taxpayers. CMP sales are designed to facilitate competency and safety with firearms among American citizens and to preserve enduring and tangible mementos of the nation’s military history. They also relieve the Army of the expense (which in 2015 was already some $200,000 per year) of storing and safeguarding armaments that are surplus to its requirements and no longer in use.
I fully commend the resumption of the M1911/M1911A1 sales and am grateful we now have a president who respects gun owners and wants to help preserve history, while saving tax dollars. No doubt some of you will find an added patriotic incentive to purchase these already historic military arms during the historic second term of President Donald Trump.
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