What It Takes to Become a Gunsmith in 2025 (ft. SDI)

State of the Second hosts John and Kaylee sit down with Jared from Sonoran Desert Institute (SDI) for a conversation about the state of gunsmithing in 2025 and how new people get into the trade. Jared is SDI's chief academic officer. SDI is an online college that teaches gunsmithing and uncrewed technology like drone piloting and fleet administration. The episode opens with a rapid fire segment covering Jared's everyday carry, a strict no-impulse-buy rule he shares with his wife, a 3D-printed articulated chicken for his daughter, and a recent weekend spent finishing one of his own rifles. Most of the episode digs into why gunsmiths are getting harder to find and what that means for the industry. Jared explains that the old path into the trade, picking up mechanical skills through shop class, farm machinery, or working on cars, has thinned out as schools dropped shop and home ec. Many students now arrive wanting to build a gun they saw in a video game, with no base hands-on skills. At the same time, veteran gunsmiths are passing away, and the next generation hasn't fully stepped in. SDI's answer is online education that ships a lab to the student's living room so the hands-on work still happens. Jared and the hosts also walk through the rise of faceless, factory-driven design, the loss of named gunsmith legends like P.O. Ackley and Elmer Keith, and why people are starting to crave bespoke, personal work again. Jared makes the case that gunsmithing teaches transferable skills, woodworking, welding, machining, metal finishing, that lead graduates into many industries, and that the trades broadly are short on people, the same way it's hard to find a plumber right now. He frames education as a baseline plus continuous learning, not a finish line at graduation. On the policy side, he notes SDI operates in roughly 46 states, sometimes blocked by firearms law and sometimes by education law, and praises states like Arkansas for putting firearms education back into public schools. The episode closes with where to find SDI (SDI.edu and social), a guest gift from Palmetto State Armory and AAC Ammo, and a reminder about the GOALS summit in Knoxville, Tennessee on August 9th and 10th. Linksevents.goa.org/goalsQuestions this episode answers What is the Sonoran Desert Institute (SDI) and how does it teach a hands-on trade like gunsmithing online? Sonoran Desert Institute is an online college that teaches gunsmithing along with uncrewed technology like drone piloting and fleet administration. It keeps the trade hands-on by shipping a physical lab to the student so the practical work still happens at home. Why are gunsmiths getting harder to find, and what has happened to the traditional path into the trade? The old on-ramp of building mechanical skills through shop class, farm machinery, or working on cars has thinned out as schools dropped shop and home economics. At the same time veteran gunsmiths are passing away and the next generation has not fully stepped in, so many students now arrive with no base hands-on skills. How does SDI handle the lab side of gunsmithing if students are learning from home? SDI sends a lab kit to each student so the hands-on portion of gunsmithing happens in their own living room. As Jared puts it, the school can place both the classroom and the lab where the student already is. What skills does gunsmithing teach that carry over into other industries and careers? Gunsmithing builds transferable trade skills like woodworking, welding, machining, and metal finishing that lead graduates into many industries. Jared frames the trades broadly as short on people, the same way it is hard to find a plumber right now. Why have the big-name gunsmith designers largely disappeared from the industry? The industry has shifted toward faceless, factory-driven design, and named gunsmith legends like P.O. Ackley and Elmer Keith have passed without clear successors. Jared and the hosts note that demand for bespoke, personal work is starting to return as a result. How do state and federal rules affect where an online gunsmithing school can operate? SDI operates in roughly 46 states, sometimes blocked by firearms law and sometimes by education law. Jared praises states like Arkansas for putting firearms education back into public schools. Can the average gun owner customize and personalize their firearm, or is that only for experts? Many first-time owners do not realize a firearm can be customized and made their own, which is part of why demand for bespoke work is growing. The episode frames customization and personal work as increasingly accessible rather than reserved for specialists. What does Jared carry every day, and why does one of his firearms have sentimental value? His everyday carry is a Smith & Wesson Shield or a Smith & Wesson airweight revolver. The Shield is engraved and tied to his old school, which gives it personal meaning. Chapters 00:00 — Welcome and meet Jared from SDI 00:19 — Rapid fire: EDC, impulse buys, 3D printing 02:32 — Last build: a weekend on his own AR-10 03:09 — Why the AR-10 isn't standardized 05:06 — Working on old guns and off-brand designs 06:36 — Sears, J.C. Higgins, and slam-fire shotguns 11:36 — What SDI is: putting the classroom and lab at home 13:35 — The future of gunsmiths and the training gap 18:55 — Veterans and career-changers into the trade 21:05 — Losing the named gunsmith legends 26:01 — Bespoke work, customization, and accessibility 30:22 — From the Soapbox: training and state education law 37:50 — Trades opportunity and learning as a baseline 48:02 — Where to find SDI and show close About the guest Jared is the chief academic officer at Sonoran Desert Institute (SDI), an online college that teaches gunsmithing and uncrewed technology such as drone piloting and fleet administration. He came to SDI about four years ago, and before that worked with an on-ground school in Colorado in the gunsmithing space. Earlier in his career he worked in the watch and jewelry industry. He is former military and holds multiple degrees. His everyday carry is a Smith & Wesson Shield, engraved and tied to his old school, or a Smith & Wesson airweight revolver. His daughter raises chickens for 4-H. Key quotes "education is going away from four walls." — Jared "I can put the classroom in their living room." — Jared "we actually send kids out to our students and put the lab in their living room as well." — Jared "what we now see is students that played a video game and they want to build the gun from the video game." — Jared "It's hard to find a gunsmith right now, you know, because we just as a country haven't focused on those jobs." — Jared "the idea with any educational environment is to give you a baseline to start with and then get you out in the world doing it." — Jared "a lot of first time gun owners might not even be aware that you can customize something, that you can make something your own." — Kaylee