Robert Farago over at The Truth About Guns probably ruffled a few feathers yesterday when he posted about why people shouldn’t carry a 1911 chambered in .45 ACP. Now, it’s clear these are his reasons for not carrying a 1911 in that caliber, and it seems he has few issues with the 1911 platform since his daily carry is a Wilson Combat EDC X9.

However, I thought I’d offer up a few reasons why you should carry a 1911 in .45.

1. Because you want to

First and foremost, you want to do it. You’re a free individual and lawfully permitted to carry a firearm, so you’re going to carry whatever it is you want to carry so long as it’s legal to do so.

2. Because you can

There’s no reason you can’t, and for some, that’s more than enough reason.

3. Because you will

No gun does you any good if you can’t get to it when you need to, but if you’ll carry a 1911, then so be it.

Seriously, I take issue with little that Robert said. He made some pretty valid points, and those points are why I carry a 9mm as a general rule, particularly regarding round capacity. Most gunfights may never require a reload, but I’m also sure that no one ever walked away from a gunfight wishing they’d left those spare magazines at home.

However, a couple of his points relate well to non-1911’s such as weight. I recently retired my CZ-75B from carry use simply because it’s a beast. It’s a large, full-sized, heavy metal-framed gun. While it’s a wonderful pistol to handle and a pleasure to shoot, it doesn’t do me a damn bit of good if the gun is so heavy I think, “Screw it” and leave it at home.

Then there was the safety angle where he said:

3. 1911’s are dangerous!

BACK OFF! I know you’re completely safe with your 1911. You never EVER put your finger on the trigger until your sights are on target. And of course you’ve survived a defensive gun use and/or done force-on-force training with your 1911. So you KNOW your trigger finger will remain off the trigger even the highest of high stress situations.

Which is REALLY important, given that your fingers lose sensation during an adrenalin dump as the blood rushes away from your extremities. Not to mention the prospect of sympathetic squeeze (squeezing one hand automatically when you squeeze the other) or plain old sympathetic fire (shooting at something because someone else is shooting at something).

Besides, your 1911 has a frame-mounted safety! Which you will for sure switch off when your sights are on a person or persons posing an imminent, credible threat of grievous bodily harm or death. Because NOT switching off the safety could be extremely dangerous to your health. And you’re an expert! So don’t pay the slightest bit of attention to this object or, come to think of it, the previous two.

Um…how is this different than almost any other firearm out there? None of that is unique to the 1911. Nothing at all.

I’m sorry, but while these are all realistic concerns, they’re general concerns and not anything unique to the 1911, much less the 1911 in .45 ACP. Nothing at all, yet that’s the clear implication.

Frankly, the whole thing is silly. While Robert’s reasons for switching up his carry are undoubtedly legitimate, he phrases this as if it’s a general warning not to carry a .45 1911 rather than his own thought processes on the issue. That will, undoubtedly, add fuel to the fire of the tiresome 9mm vs. .45 debate.

Seriously, do we really need that crap right now? Don’t we have enough arguments to deal with from outside the community without resurrecting zombies within our own ranks?

Honestly, carry whatever you want to carry. I used to add the caveat that it needed to be a decent caliber, but now I’m not even sure that’s a requirement these days.