One day before Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 47th President of the United States, he held a Make America Great Again rally in Washington, D.C., where he spoke to more than 20,000 energized supporters — not to mention 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 notably included the pro-Second Amendment community, with a specific mention that "NRA worked really hard" to get him back into the White House.
It was, as we understood from President Trump’s first term, effort well spent. And it did not take long to begin seeing the rewards of it.
Fewer than 10 days into President Trump’s already productive and energetic second term, great news emerged from the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP). The highly popular sales program for surplus U.S. Army M1911/M1911A1 .45 caliber pistols has resumed, after having been suspended during the Biden-Harris administration. In other welcomed developments, the sales process has been streamlined, and shipping and handling (a $25 value) will be free.
We have been reporting on the CMP’s sales of these historic handguns since November of 2015, when then President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 into law. That year’s NDAA contained an amendment that authorized the Secretary of Defense to transfer to the CMP up to 10,000 surplus caliber .45 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.
Unsurprisingly, however, the anti-gun Obama-Biden administration did not act on this authority, claiming it was discretionary. Their arguments against launching the program, some based on outright falsehoods, were predictably amplified by the anti-gun media.
NRA-ILA continued to lobby for the transfers, until President Trump on Dec. 12, 2017, signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for 2018. Included in that law was a provision that required the military surplus 1911 pistols to be made available for sale to the public.
Those sales commenced in 2018, with annual rounds of 10,000 pistols. The CMP would wait until it had received 10,000 orders, then assign customers a randomly generated number (RGN). Customers would then be contacted in 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 their 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 was underway. The official explanation was that the results of an audit required further investigation.
On Jan. 29, however, it was announced the sales would resume. Initially, priority will be given to those who had placed Round Four orders, for whom CMP will honor the originally quoted prices. The new sales will then occur 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.
As before, final acquisition of the pistols will have to occur in a face-to-face transaction with a federal firearm licensee (FFL) in the purchaser’s state of residence, after pre-approval of the application to purchase by the CMP. All normal formalities associated with an FFL retail transaction will apply to these transfers.
Complete eligibility details and sales procedures are available at the CMP’s website.
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 are also a good deal for the U.S. taxpayer, relieving 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.
NRA-ILA commends the resumption of the M1911/M1911A1 sales. No doubt some will find an added patriotic incentive to purchase these already historic military arms during the historic second term of President Donald J. Trump.
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