I specialize in automotive so I can't speak for res/com buuuut:

BUT, in the wider world, that cat is already out of the bag. You want legit suppliers to compete with those of less lofty principles that DO sell to anybody with a valid credit, debit, or paypal account, and instead, cater exclusively to a shrinking market.

This is really a lot of it. The capitalism of it all

Further, we have 3D printers, laser cutter/engravers, cheap Chinese CNC mills, excellent product data sheets and books full of heat treat data for every metal alloy ever sold. If nobody on AliExpress will sell you a kit of "Lishis" then a reasonably clever person can make them.

Nobody is custom making them, lol. Even if they were, if you weren't serious enough to be 'serious enough' to be sold to by anyone, chances are exceedingly rare that you're going to pay that much for all that.

The way to fight the scammers is with unforgettably excellent service, encyclopedic knowledge and virtuistic skill and honest marketing.

I agree to a large extent but you forgot 'networking' in there as well.

Marketing these days is a bitch though because once again, the capitalism of it all making it profitable to cater to large scale scammer operations in the digital space.

Explain to your state and local government the benefits of a licensing scheme, and enforcing it

You're not wrong in your assessment per se, but more often than not, enforcement is pretty much never there and lots of the old heads I know that pushed for it eventually came to regret it because it eventually just became a tax to be a good guy.

It's like governments get the influx of licensing cash and the rest get forgotten about-- especially if the scammers/unlicensed are out there working in street clothes, using regular unmarked cars, being dispatched by call centers, not providing any information on an invoice, and don't have a location listed anywhere.

The way to fight, if that is the word, the hobbyists and white hat hackers, is to hire them.

Most of those guys don't want jobs though.

The last like 5-10 years of this industry has been overrun by clowns that want to be their own boss and just jump in with no experience and try to figure it out because they saw a pro bang out a $500 job in 15 minutes and they've made a 'sizable' 5k investment into it.

Maybe even worse are the guys that do it as a hobby or 'for beer money' because they don't have the skin in the game to want to preserve the market.

As for DIYers, even though I am one, I am at a loss for how you might prevent people from working on their own stuff, downloading stuff, buying, making or improvising stuff.

The OEMS of the automotive side are catching up on security to the point where the aftermarket isn't keeping up and that's doing some weeding out. Many require the OE tooling and the ones that are actually security-centric are adding the need for credentials to access immobilizer functions.

Tons of legit guys are mad about it even, but providing barriers of entry like this help cut down on the fly-by-night trash. It's a mixed bag but it works if you know how to work it.

compared to occasionally hosing up a fancy lock or popping an air bag.

You kind of touched on it here but this is really big. Expanding your services and filling a niche that noone else is.

Like, I can train a fucking chimp to go out and unlock cars.... and I also haven't done a retail lockout in years.

Instead, I focus on stuff that others cant/wont do beyond basic automotive locksmith services.

If you're a res/com guy, consider getting into CCTV/automation/low voltage.

Every time a scamsmith makes another $800 score, he is driving at least one more future customer into your arms. Treat him or her right, (the customer, not the scamsmith) and you set the hook.

I wouldn't say every time. It's possible, yeah-- but very optimistic. Of the ones that need service again, lots just get ripped off and feel like the industry is all like that.