The National Rifle Association (NRA) has selected Black River Technical College (BRTC) to be 1 of only 4 affiliated colleges in the United States to offer “short-term gunsmithing courses to aspiring gunsmiths.” The other three colleges are located in Colorado, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. BRTC houses Arkansas’s only gunsmithing program.
An NRA designation makes the Northeast Arkansas region as well as the entire state of Arkansas more competitive nationally in the firearms and ammunition industry. Already Arkansas’s firearms and ammunition industry has an economic output of $2.3 billion and employs more than 8,400 Arkansans. Support from and affiliation with the NRA will further illustrate Arkansas’s interest in being a leader in this industry.
The unique honor of being an NRA-affiliated colleges is highly coveted. The NRA’s high standards and strong institutional support assure gunsmithing students a quality education. To become an approved NRA gunsmithing school, colleges must have “an existing gunsmithing program, minimum three years, with full-time students currently enrolled in classes, knowledgeable and experienced instructors, and proper facilities to host potential students.” NRA-recognized firearm training programs are considered the gold standard due to their rigor, quality, technical accuracy, and strict safety standards.
The NRA’s approval process is highly selective and the opportunity to become an NRA-affiliated college is rare, especially for a program as young as BRTC’s. One college, Trinidad State in Colorado, has been an NRA school for 49 years. Murray State College in Oklahoma has been affiliated for 32 years and Montgomery Community College in North Carolina has been NRA-affiliated for 10 years. Lassen Community College, who operated the nation’s oldest gunsmithing school for 80 years and was affiliated with the NRA for 42 years, vacated their slot when their Board of Trustees discontinued their gunsmithing program, providing the opportunity for BRTC to apply for affiliation.
Leaders from the three NRA-affiliated colleges performed a site visit at BRTC on March 26 during which they interviewed program staff and students, examined the gunsmithing classroom and its machine tool lab, and evaluated the safety and comprehensiveness of the program’s criteria. The accreditors were pleased with BRTC’s program. “The faculty and administration of Black River Tech have done an excellent job of establishing a Gunsmithing curriculum program. This is a difficult task, and one that that is compounded by the lack of local existing programs to collaborate with,” said Mark Dye, Director of the Gunsmithing Department at Montgomery Community College. “During my visit, I was surprised by their progress and dedication their future success."
“The success of BRTC’s gunsmithing program over the last six years has been nothing short of remarkable,” said Dean of Business and Technology Phillip Dickson. “Achieving NRA approval is a testament to our team’s dedication to a vision we established back in 2020. We look forward to the continued expansion of this program, remaining steadfast in our mission to provide the firearms industry and our state with the highest caliber of skilled professionals.”
BRTC’s Gunsmithing Technology courses are safety-based and versatile depending on the needs and future aspirations of the student. The program offers three Certificates of Proficiency in Gunsmithing Technology: Riflesmithing, Shotgunsmithing, and Pistolsmithing. It also offers a Technical Certificate in Gunsmithing Technology with a Rifle Emphasis and an Associate of Applied Science in Gunsmithing Technology. The program has awarded 125 credentials since beginning in 2020 with several students coming from out-of-state.
For more information about NRA or NRA-affiliated colleges visit https://gunsmithing.nra.org/find-a-school/.
For more information about BRTC's gunsmithing program visit https://blackrivertech.edu/college-coursework/academic-units/technical-programs/gunsmithing/.