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patterson wrote: Don't know what 1911s yall are having issues with and don't feel reliable . I haven't had that many FTF or FTE with mine

I don't know how many this is, but it sounds like more than I would tolorate with any of my guns. I take my guns to range quite a bit and have poured thousands of rounds through the barrels. I had one failure .. The retaining clip for the guide rod came off and bashed the guide bushing a bit ,.. The gun was still functional and continued to fire. Ruger sent me the two tiny parts free of charge for my 10 year old Ruger P95. I did have one FTE from my Beretta 92 but it was while I was introducing my niece to handguns, and she was limpwristing badly. I corrected her and she continued to shoot a whole box of ammo. For some a few FTEs here and a few there is acceptable, others take a zero defect stance. Some people have pretty good luck with their 1911s, others manage to tweak them and their ammo into reliability. Others not so much.. I don't own any Glocks and don't have any plans to either but it's hard to deny that for most people they are a very reliable handgun.

The Annoyed Man wrote:
If you have a Glock, the procedure is very simple: unload AND CLEAR the gun. Verify clear with more than one rack of the slide. Set the magazine(s) and ejected cartridge aside - preferably in another room. Strip the gun. End of problem.

A good Idea for any gun. I don't have any criticism for folks who safely carry a Glock. Just that they aren't for me, as long as there are other more suitable handguns. I just believe there are valid safety reasons for classic hammer fired SA/DA handguns. There is a larger margin of error. I do believe that a holster with retention will mitigate some of the issues I have. Most of my holsters are low retention types.

I do understand that some folks don't care for the long hard first trigger pull of DA/SA But I think that in a combat situation that the trigger isn't going to make much of a difference in first shot situation, with adrenalin and all.

What I find frustrating is the fading away of the traditional hammered SA/DA handgun. Thereseem to be fewer and fewer of them on the market, with DA being more common. I find the 1911 is just too finicky to trust especially the commander and subcompact models. Running enough defense ammo to build confidence enough to trust these things is can be an expensive proposition. I will likely buy a nice 1911 someday, but It would likely never be carried as a primary defense gun.

Glocks, to me, just don't have that margin of error for safety. An instinctive grab for a falling gun, or the quick wandering hands of a toddler are risks that concern me. I like the idea of a mechanical safety. Perhaps a holster with good retention would relieve me of some of my concerns. I am also uncomfortable with the concept of pulling the trigger to disassemble the gun.

Glocks and 1911s aren't bad guns, They just aren't the best choice for everyone.

I do believe that the article did highlight one serious problem. Officers are not only putting their fingers on the trigger,, but the fact that they aren't even aware they are doing it. As others have said this is a training problem and not a Glock problem. Situation awareness isn't just being aware of what is all around us, but it is also about ourselves, what we are doing and where we are.

OlBill wrote:It's a training issue. Glocks are gunfighter guns.

Aren't they all?

An Op Ed in the LA times proposes that cops should be banned packing Glocks.
LA Times OpEd

The underlying problem with these pistols is a short trigger pull and the lack of an external safety. In real-world encounters, a short trigger pull can be lethal, in part because a significant percentage of law enforcement officers — some experts say as high as 20% — put their finger on the trigger of their weapons when under stress. According to firearms trainers, most officers are completely unaware of their tendency to do this and have a hard time believing it, even when they're shown video evidence from training exercises.

Is it the Glocks fault, the LEOs or the training? If the short trigger pull is the problem, I take it he wouldn't like 1911's either. I used to see a lot off cops with Beretta 92s. Not so much any more.