In 2015, Alabama Congressman Mike Rogers placed an amendment on the Defense Appropriations Act that forced the U.S. Army to release 8,000 surplus M1911A1s to the Civilian Marksmanship Program (CMP). The more rare and collectible guns among them were auctioned off, while the remaining pistols were made available for sale. Demand far exceeded supply, so the CMP set up a lottery system to decide who would have the privilege of purchasing a piece of U.S. military history.
The administrative burden of the application process, combined with an aversion to paper- work, caused me to miss the first-round deadline of drawings....