Editor’s note: This piece was originally posted on Guns.com.

On display at the Jesse James Firearms Unlimited booth at SHOT Show 2018, is a beautiful hand-made 1911 pistol that James made for his good friend Donald J. Trump. The pistol is on display at the booth (#411) until Jan. 26.

When Trump became the president, James felt an obligation to make his friend a gun. “I build cool guns. So, it’s like, I’m going to build a presidential gun,” he said.

Setting out to build the gun, James wanted to capture the essence of Trump. “Donald Trump’s kind of old school, like 1970s,” James said. “You know, New York City rich guy. So, a little bit of gold, a little bit of decorative filigree work.”



Being the 45th president of the United States, of course the gun had to be a large 1911 in .45ACP. James used one of his Grandmaster X seven-inch 1911 model frames as a base, and added a two-inch comp to the barrel to bring the total length of the pistol to nine inches. This gave him enough real estate to be able to write the president’s entire name down one side “Donald J. Trump.” On the other side he put, “The 45th President of the United States of America.”

“It’s kind of like, a modern Dirty Harry gun,” said James. “He’s kind of bigger than life, I think. So he needs a bigger than life pistol.”

James only made one of the gun and he hasn’t spoken to Trump about it. He figures he’ll probably make a trip to the White House and present the gun to his friend. However, if he does this in a formal fashion, by law, the gun then becomes the property of the people. So Trump wouldn’t be able to keep it.

To this Jesse said, “I guess I shouldn’t bitch about having a pistol in the presidential museum.”