Stephen Sanetti

Steve Sanetti, the owner of Arms Appraisals, LLC, is a life-long firearms enthusiast, target shooter, hunter, and gun collector, specializing in pre-1946 firearms. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute (Honors in History) where he was manager of the Rifle Team and President of the Rifle & Pistol Club. He worked as an assistant conservator at the George C. Marshall Library Museum. He received a JD from Washington & Lee University School of Law. He served as a Captain in the US Army and Chief of Criminal Law for the First Cavalry Division, FT. Hood, TX. Upon discharge, he joined Connecticut's oldest law firm, specializing in firearms product liability defense, and was later hired by Bill Ruger to be Sturm, Ruger & Company's General Counsel and Special Advisor to Mr. Ruger. During his 28-year career at Ruger, he rose through the ranks as vice president, senior vice president, and ultimately as president, COO, and Vice Chairman of the Board of the nation's largest firearms manufacturer. While at Ruger, he wrote many firearms instruction manuals, safety materials, helped draft patent applications, and captained Ruger's pistol team. He was also an NRA Certified Rifle, Pistol, and Home Firearms Safety Instructor, a member of the NSSF Board of Governors, and chairman of the SAAMI Legislative & Legal Affairs Committee. In 2004, he received the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence Award. Steve was president and CEO of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the firearms industry's trade association, and the CEO of the Sporting Arms & Ammunition Manufacturers Institute (SAAMI), the industry's standards-setting organization, for 12 years. He has served on the Boards of the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, the Council to Advance Hunting & the Shooting Sports, the World Forum on the Future of Sports Shooting Activities, the Federal Wildlife & Hunting Conservation Council, and the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable. He is a professional Member of the Boone & Crockett Club, and was Chairman of Project ChildSafe, Inc. In 2004, he was the winner of the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence Award. He has been a Technical Advisor to The Association of Firearm & Toolmark Examiners (AFTE) since 1984, and in 2019 received both the NSSF Lifetime Achievement Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Sporting Goods Wholesalers (NASGW). He presently is a volunteer Historical Interpreter at the Springfield Armory Museum National Historic Site, a member of the Board of Firearms Advisors to the Cody Firearms Museum, a Board member of Ye Connecticut Gun Guild, and a member of the Ruger Collectors Association and the Ruger Owners & Collectors Society. In 2021, Steve was appointed by the Governor to sit on the Connecticut Board of Firearms Permit Examiners. Steve has successfully completed the Principles of Valuation courses for personal property appraisers conducted by the American Society of Appraisers including: In...[truncated]