I know he's being facetious but Colt relied on their military contract and stopped paying attention to civilians. This fact is evident by their truly abysmal customer service. I sent one Commander back so many times that I finally took a dremel to it myself. And they honestly weren't concerned that their quality control and customer service sucked.
They've got some learning to do now.
I have never seen a problem with quality but they sure did seem to not have much interest in civilian sales.
Clearly they put all their eggs in the military basket.
They make several of the most popular guns in history and can’t make a go of it?
They probably need to move to the South and decrease costs.
I bought a new plain-Jane Colt 1911A1 around 18-20 years ago. It worked OK, but the workmanship was not even close to the almost perfect older Colt handguns I have owned over the past 50-60 years. I sold that gun, but I still have 2 old timers in my gun locker, a circa 1930 .38spcl Police Positive and a circa 1950 1911A1 45acp. Both are built like a Swiss watch and both are reliable and accurate.
No matter what other guns I may buy, sell, or trade, those 2 aint agonna get traded in on some newfangled European "wunderwaffe" as long as I'm able to sit up and take nourishment.