Gunsmithing: A “Living” Art

Maybe you saw the same thing: An unsigned AP newswire story titled "Gunsmith Numbers Declining in What May Bea "Dying Art" ran in Sunday papers across the country a few weeks ago. Dying art!? Get out of town, AP. The article compared the gunsmith to the farrier and the harnessmaker, pointing out that these were important trades in the Old West, but presumably have drifted away like the tumbling tumbleweed.

I don’t know much about farriers and harnessmakers, but I know a few people who would take exception to the notion that gunsmithing is a dying art. The article quoted Dave Jacobs of Dakota Gunsmithing Specialties in Mott, North Dakota, who said: "The real heyday for gunsmiths came right after World War II, when soldiers brought back rifles from the war and had them customized. That lasted until the mid-70s to early 80s.

True enough, but a cursory glance at the work gunsmiths are doing today with receivers like the AR-15 would hardly support this "dying art" idea. And what about the fine art of customizing the M1911? That work alone has made major strides in just the last 10 years’not to mention the quantum leaps in sophistication made since the end of World War II.

The article went on to point out the problems gunsmiths face with federal and state regulations’okay, also true’and quoted another gunsmith who had moved from the San Francisco Bay area to the Rocky Mountains in search of a more supportive community. Frankly, if I lived in the San Francisco Bay area, I’d move too. In fact, I did" back in 1978. I think that’s called "getting out while the getting’s good.

The article pointed out that fewer gunsmiths are needed today because gunmakers are offering a broader selection of off-the-shelf firearms, and because gun parts are made to closer tolerance today and require less fitting when being replaced. Yeah, sure, true again. And I’ve noticed we don’t have nearly as many gas-station attendants today as we did 20 years ago, either. But I don’t think that means the petroleum industry is in a state of decline.

In any case, I suppose the newspapers have to fill up those fat Sunday editions with something. And, as gunsmiths, maybe we should just be grateful for having been mentioned. But don’t say "gunsmith" and "dying art" in the same sentence. Not around me.