Matt Todd stands behind students in his self-defense course Thursday to advise them as they aim and take fire at targets at Range351, a private gun range he owns and operates in Limestone County. Todd said his classes are a way for average people to become more effective and comfortable defending themselves in their everyday lives.

Some would call Matt Todd one of the luckier ones. He’s a bearded, tatted-up white male who started learning martial arts when he was age 7, and like many in the South, got his first rifle around that age, too.

“I don’t have a lot of safety concerns,” he said, telling The News Courier he’s been around martial arts and shooting his whole life.

But when he got robbed at gunpoint nine years ago, he realized just being around them wasn’t enough.

“Being someone who could take care of themselves physically for so long, and then you have a gun in your face, and it’s like, ‘Oh. There’s a hole in my game,'” he said.

So, he started taking classes — not just to defend himself, but to teach others how to better defend themselves. Now, he teaches private self-defense courses that include how to recognize one’s own vulnerabilities, how to recognize threats, de-escalation tactics and defending oneself.

His students are primarily female, and he estimates 20% to 30% of them have already been the victim of a crime. He describes them as “day-to-day people” who need to learn how to effectively protect themselves when going about their everyday lives.

“These are normal people who just don’t want to get robbed going to Costco,” he said.

While Todd is a National Rifle Association-certified instructor and uses Range351, a private gun range he owns and operates in Limestone County, as a teaching location, his courses involve more than just shooting at a target.

“We focus a lot on less lethal multipliers,” Todd said, referring to items that “multiply” one’s ability to defend themselves or others. “We focus on how not to get into a fight, like body language, posturing, spatial difference, things like that, so we don’t have use one of these things in the first place.”

In fact, during the first of a two-part lesson he taught Thursday at the Athens-Limestone Tourism Association office, he was amazed to learn not a single female student carried a knife.

“This one lady was like, ‘Ain’t no girls gonna carry a knife,’ and I don’t understand why,” Todd said. “This can be lethal or not lethal, and you can keep the lethal component in your custody. The gun’s not lethal. It’s the bullet that takes off. This knife is in my control the entire time, and I can dictate how much force is used, and I can put this back. I can’t put bullets back.”

But that’s not going to stop him from making sure those who take his class know how to use a gun effectively if the need arises.

“People walk around with guns and don’t know how to use them, and just assume a loaded firearm on their body is going to jump out and keep them safe, and that’s just not the case,” Todd said. “… I want to make sure people have a really healthy respect and an over-standing of what they’re capable of. A lot of people have this misconception that having a gun means you’re safe, but it just means you have a gun.”

He describes his lessons at Range351 as a way for people who don’t feel safe around guns to “learn exactly that.” He also wants them to know the laws, ins, outs and common mistakes associated with gun use and ownership.

“If you ever have to use your firearm, you have to be accurate, you have to know the law, you have to know what you can and can’t do, what you can say and not say,” Todd said. “The last thing you want to do is do everything right and then say something wrong and someone is live-streaming you on Facebook or something and that is your little bitty instant of fame.”

He also believes classes like his are better than the classes that train against active shooters.

“People want to sell this active-shooter curriculum, which is bogus,” Todd said. “It doesn’t happen. What happens is someone robs you. Someone wants to take you and abduct you. … Active shooting happens, but it happens more in your 24-hour news cycle.”

Those interested in practice more than training can reserve time at the gun range for $10 an hour, $30 per day or $100 per month. Visit www.range351.com to reserve time or register for a class. Range351 can also be reached at 256-874-2500.