Title: Faculty, School of Firearms Technology
Highest degree and school: AS, Firearms Technology, Sonoran Desert Institute
Teaching at SDI since: 2020
Brad Axsom brings more than 25 years of experience as a firearms instructor into his classrooms at SDI, where he teaches both the Introduction to Firearms Technology course and the elective Modern Sporting Rifle. Prior to joining SDI, he was a firearms instructor in the United States Air Force for 20 years before teaching for the largest firearms training company in the state of Florida. In addition to earning his Associate of Science in Firearms Technology degree from SDI, Brad also holds multiple NRA instructor ratings to teach civilians and is certified from the NRA Law Enforcement Training Division. In addition to teaching for SDI since 2020, he also spends his days building and testing firearms for a Florida armament company. His experience in the field led him to be recognized by both the federal and State of Florida public defender’s offices as an expert witness, and he has been involved with multiple court cases regarding firearms, use of force, accidental shootings, and range management issues with the populace. Additionally, Brad has consulted on articles for American Rifleman and American Hunter, and is proud to have published an article on firearms instruction and training published in American Shooters Journal.
Having been a student at SDI, Brad really enjoyed the curriculum and wanted to give back to the firearms community after he graduated. As for his favorite part of teaching, he says, “For years now I have really enjoyed that moment when the student gets it. There is always an ‘ah ha’ moment and I like to be part of that.”
A resident of Florida, Brad says all days are perfect days, but “the best ones are the days when it is warm but not hot, the wind is calm and the long range course is empty of everyone but me.” When he’s not on the range, Brad loves fast cars and has owned multiple Corvettes over the years – he says he still opens the garage every night to say ‘sleep well’ to his gloss black Z06. If given the time, Brad says one thing he always wanted to learn is becoming good at running a lathe: “Really good gunsmiths can run a very precise lathe to rebarrel bolt guns and recrown threads. That is the one skill that I just never got a chance to learn.”