NRAblog interviewed Refuse To Be A Victim® (RTBAV) instructor Melita Ellington in July 2010.

We can't say we're surprised to see her in the news again! The Women's Outdoor News has the scoop on Melita and her new website, MagnoliaDefense.com:

Magnolia Defense Enterprises launches new website 

Certified NRA instructor Melita Ellington, founder of Magnolia Defense Enterprises, LLC, launched the company’s new website recently and sets her sights on developing additional class locations in the metro-Atlanta area.

“In today’s cyber-marketplace, it’s the way we search for information when we need it. It was an obvious step for my company as we try to provide firearms training services for women,” remarked Ellington.

Ellington founded Magnolia Defense in 2009 after seeing a need for more women’s firearms training programs in metro-Atlanta. She is NRA-certified to teach basic pistol, Refuse To Be a Victim™ personal safety, and will soon receive certification to teach the NRA shotgun course, as well. 

Read the entire story here.

One of the NRA's most popular programs, Refuse To Be A Victim® teaches personal protection and crime prevention strategies. 

NRANews Executive Producer John Popp and his band of audio/technical wizards stopped by headquarters today to shoot segments for the show. They left with a little more than originally planned.

"Taping at NRA Headquarters accomplishes two things," explained Popp. "First, shooting here provides our viewers with an actual view of the building. We tape our interviews at the museum, in the hallways, on the range - where ever we can find a free space.

"Second is the wild cards. Today, for example, we ran into Competitive Shooting's H.Q. Moody. That impromptu meeting turned into two separate interviews. They wouldn't have happened if we weren't here at headquarters."

In addition to the Moody interviews, Popp and his crew had the opportunity to sit down with Ruthann Sprague from NRA Women's Programs, J.R. Robbins from NRAHuntersRights.org, and (pictured above) National Firearms Museum's Phil Schreier. All of which are scheduled air on NRANews.com somewhere between 9pm and midnight Eastern Time over the next few days.

Since the inaugural Women's Forum in March, the NRA's Education and Training Division has been brainstorming ways to involve women in its programs. NRAblog has featured stories from several forum participants -- Kimberly Hobart, Penny Gilliam and Patricia Mcclelland Merydith -- and we're pleased to continue the series with NRA Certified Instructor Laura Whitlock.

Women On Target instructor Laura Whitlock was born and raised in North Carolina, went to graduate school in South Carolina, and recently moved to Virginia for a career with the federal government. Although she hasn’t held many Women On Target seminars yet, she explained that once she’s settled in her new home, “I would love to establish a WOT client base here.”

While she has plenty of room to grow as a Women On Target instructor, over the years Whitlock has “done a lot of teaching for women. As I got involved in law enforcement, I would be asked to teach wives, girlfriends, daughters, whatever, because it seemed that they would be more relaxed learning from a woman.”

A natural instructor who has experience teaching in the criminal justice and government fields, Whitlock soon became hooked: “I found out I really enjoyed it, and I got certified with the NRA. It’s so infectious to see people having a good time realizing that shooting can be a hobby in addition to self defense.” More...

Class teaches skills to deal with danger

Oconee County deputies want to arm residents with the information to make themselves a harder target for criminals. "Criminals aren't looking for hard targets; they're looking for easy targets," said Oconee County Chief Deputy Lee Weems.

Weems and Cpl. Jason Lowe are gearing up to teach a four- to five-hour crime prevention program called Refuse to Be a Victim.

The program is taught across the country and gives people key information on how to be aware of their surroundings and what to do in a dangerous situation.

Refuse to Be a Victim is sponsored by the National Rifle Association, but is not a gun training course, Weems said. Instead, the curriculum focuses on how to avoid potentially dangerous situations through such practices as refueling a car during the day rather than after dark, and keeping distance between yourself and a stranger when asking for directions.

Read the rest of the article here.

Remember reading about Refuse To Be A Victim instructor training introducing an online format?

Here's your chance to register for the next online course! National Coordinator Ruthann Sprague and the NRA's Education and Training staff are excited for the change. Almost 75,000 people have attended RTBAV seminars in the last ten years, mostly in community venues like libraries, churches, and community centers. 

With the new online program, these numbers are sure to increase, Sprague tells us. Bring this program to your community in 2010:

Registration is now open for the September 13-27, 2010 session of the Refuse To Be A Victim® Online Instructor Training course. Registration is open until August 30th or until the course reaches its maximum student enrollment. The cost is $250, and you must be at least 18 and without a criminal record to become an instructor. 

 Look here for information and details.

Refuse To Be A Victim®, the award-winning crime prevention and personal safety seminar, will be held along with an Instructor Development Workshop on August 14, 2010, at TASER International Headquarters, 17800 N. 85th Street, Scottsdale, Arizona 85255. The seminar, which is required for all instructor candidates, will begin at 8:30AM, and the instructor workshop will begin at 12:30PM.

Both events are open to the public, and the seminar is being offered free of charge, thanks to TASER International. Executive Counselor Edward O’Carroll, pictured at right, is conducting the courses. Tuition for the instructor class, which includes materials, is $175, and pre-registration for both events is requested. You may register through NRAinstructors.org or contact O’Carroll, at 703-475-4598 or rtbav911@yahoo.com.

Refuse To Be A Victim® seminars teach methods to avoid dangerous situations and prevent criminal confrontations. Experts agree the most important factor in surviving a criminal attack is to have an overall safety strategy before you need it. Seminar topics address personal safety issues as well as home, automobile, telephone, technological, and travel security. Seminar participants are presented with a variety of common sense crime prevention and personal safety strategies and devices they may integrate into their daily lives. More...

From Refuse To Be A Victim® coordinator Ruthann Sprague:

This photo is from the very first seminar held on the Big Island of Hawaii, only the third ever held in the state. The last seminar held in the state was on Oahu in 2002.

The seminar was taught by Blane Maebo, Refuse To Be A Victim® Regional Counselor, in Hilo, Hawaii.

Pictured, left to right: Lori Enomoto, Claudia Lato, Sharen Chaves, Wendy Beatty, Valerie Sue Carron, Susan Watters, and David Watters.

Send an update on your community's NRA program(s) to NRAblog for inclusion by emailing us at GOblog@NRAhq.org.

If you’d like to train to be an instructor or attend a seminar in your area, email refuse@nrahq.org or visit www.nrahq.org/rtbav.

One of NRA’s most popular programs is Refuse To Be A Victim® (RTBAV), which trains instructors to teach important personal safety tips for home, public places, and even overseas travel. One of RTBAV’s newest instructors is Melita Ellington, who lives in the Atlanta area and received her RTBAV training at the 2010 Annual Meeting in Charlotte.

Ellington told NRAblog she’s “super excited about my involvement with the NRA and its programs, especially those designed for the advancement of women in firearms safety and personal protection.” While RTBAV became a co-educational program in 1997 and seminars are open to anyone, many instructors cater to female audiences. “I believe women are often targeted more than men, and will therefore place more emphasis on a female-focused seminar,"  Ellington said.

Ellington began to pursue her interest in firearms by registering with Georgia for a concealed carry permit in 2004. In 2008 she attended a women’s action pistol camp called Babes with Bullets™. “It was at this awesome immersion-style camp that I really began to understand the need for training in my area,” Ellington explained. An NRA member since 2008, she was inspired to reach out to other women by founding Magnolia Defense Enterprises LLC, which teaches women both pistol skills and personal defense tactics.

Completing the RTBAV training course, Ellington said, was a fun experience that greatly expanded her personal safety expertise: “I learned so many things during the seminar, such as the difference between tear gas, mace and pepper spray; travel tips like hiding personal information on luggage tags by turning them backwards; and using light timers while away on vacation.” More...

One of the NRA’s most successful educational programs is Refuse To Be A Victim® (RTBAV), an informative and engaging personal safety course. Now, those who wish to become instructors may train online.

NRAblog spoke with Ruthann Sprague, our Refuse To Be A Victim® Coordinator. At right, Sprague addresses students at NRA HQ.

The idea for an online training course came about, Sprague said, because “in order to be trained as an instructor, you have to attend an instructional development workshop, which has to be taught by a regional counselor, and we have areas of the country where we don’t have regional counselors. So to serve the needs of those who aren’t located within a convenient distance, we decided that an online course would be very helpful.”

Also, many RTBAV instructors are people in the military who see the program as a great community service on their bases. “With their schedules and deployments and such, they had less of an opportunity to attend instructor training, and we wanted to fulfill that need,” Sprague explained.

While RTBAV operates under the umbrella of NRA’s Women’s Programs, it became co-educational in 1997, because “everyone in general, and men after those first few years, saw the benefit of the information we provided.”

According to Sprague, anyone from junior-high students to senior citizens is ideal for the course, a four-hour seminar that gives the attendees information on their personal safety and how to be less likely to become a victim of a crime.

Fortunately, with the new online Instructor Development Workshop, Sprague is confident that “it’s going to greatly increase our growth, since we’ll be able to have instructors in areas we’ve never had before.” Almost 75,000 people have attended RTBAV seminars in the last ten years, mostly in community venues like libraries, churches, and community centers, Sprague said. “A lot of our ranges and different clubs that are already NRA affiliates are already having seminars there as well,” she added.

With the new online program, these numbers are sure to increase, and if you’d like to train to be an instructor or attend a seminar in your area, email refuse@nrahq.org or visit www.nrahq.org/rtbav. The cost is $250, and you must be at least 18 and without a criminal record to become an instructor.

RTBAV consultants put a lot of time into the design of this online course. “We used the model of a college course, so there’s assessments, assignments, and accessibility,” Sprague said. “We’ve tried to cover all of the bases so that the participants are good, strong instructors when they’re done.”

This weekend's NRA Annual Meeting – the Association's 139th such event – afforded hundreds of members the opportunity to learn about an exciting program of the NRA, Refuse To Be A Victim.

This co-educational seminar focuses on personal safety. It was presented both Friday and Saturday by Captain Ed O'Carroll, pictured at right, and covered the following areas – and more!

• Personal Security
• Home Security 
• Automobile Security
• Workplace Security
• Technological Security

Additionally, NRA members had the opportunity to participate in Sunday's Instructor Development Workshop. If you'd like to learn more about this program, check out their website.

Ruthann Sprague brings us the following (final!) reminder:

This year NRA’s award-winning crime prevention and personal safety seminar, Refuse To Be A Victim®, will be offering two seminars, free of charge, for attendees of the NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits. The seminars will be Friday, May 14, and Saturday, May 15, from 1:00 to 5 p.m., in Room 203 A/B in the Charlotte Convention Center. Seating will be theatre style, first-come, first-served. No registration is required.

Refuse To Be A Victim® Seminars teach methods to avoid dangerous situations and prevent criminal confrontations. Experts agree the most important factor in surviving a criminal attack is to have an overall safety strategy before you need it. Seminar topics address personal safety issues as well as home, automobile, telephone, technological, and travel security. Seminar participants are presented with a variety of common sense crime prevention and personal safety strategies and devices they may integrate into their daily lives.

The program is for men and women, and is appropriate for high school and college students. With more than two thousand instructors, seminars have been held in 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad and Tobago. Tens of thousands have benefited from the program and its life saving message.

Taking note of the program’s popularity, our Women’s Program department has made an exciting change for the upcoming  2010 National Rifle Association Annual Meetings and Exhibits: the courses offered will be in rooms large enough for approximately 500 attendees.“There’s no preregistration,” National Refuse To Be A Victim® Coordinator Ruthann Sprague explained. “People can decide at the last minute to walk in, and we welcome them until the room is at its max.”

If you're planning on seeing the NRA in Charlotte, take this opportunity to write down this important info. The Seminars will be Friday, May 14th, and Saturday, May 15th, from 1:00 PM to 5 PM, in Room 203 A/B in the Charlotte Convention Center. Seating will be theater style, first-come, first-serve, with no registration required. Seats will fill up fast!

Refuse To Be A Victim® Training Counselor Ed O’Carroll, pictured below, is bringing the personal safety seminar to New Mexico. A few spots remain – reserve yours today!

The award-winning crime prevention and personal safety seminar, Refuse To Be A Victim®, will be conducted on April 17, 2010, at the Central New Mexico Community College, 4700 Morris Avenue, J-122, Lecture Hall, Montoya Campus, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The seminar will begin at 8:00 AM and end at noon. The seminar is open to the public and costs $5 to attend. To register, contact the NRA Refuse To Be A Victim® Executive Counselor conducting the course, Edward O’Carroll, at 703-475-4598 or rtbav911@yahoo.com.

Refuse To Be A Victim® Seminars teach methods to avoid dangerous situations and prevent criminal confrontations. Experts agree the most important factor in surviving a criminal attack is to have an overall safety strategy before you need it. Seminar topics address personal safety issues as well as home, automobile, telephone, technological, and travel security. Seminar participants are presented with a variety of common sense crime prevention and personal safety strategies and devices they may integrate into their daily lives.

To find Refuse To Be A Victim® Seminars near you, see www.nrainstructors.org/searchcourse.aspx.

National Refuse To Be A Victim® Coordinator Ruthann Sprague brings us the following update on the 139th NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits.

The 2010 National Rifle Association Annual Meetings and Exhibits promises to be an exciting event. Refuse To Be A Victim® will be participating by offering two seminars, free of charge, for attendees. The Seminars will be Friday, May 14th, and Saturday, May 15th, from 1:00 PM to 5 PM, in Room 203 A/B in the Charlotte Convention Center. Seating will be theater style, first-come, first-serve, with no registration required.

An Instructor Development Workshop (IDW) will also be held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting on Sunday, May 16th in Room 203 A/B. The IDW registration fee is $150 which includes all materials, training, and the first year’s instructor certification fee. Instructor candidates must attend one of the seminars being offered Friday or Saturday afternoon. Seating is limited to 50 instructor candidates. To register, contact Ruthann Sprague, National Coordinator, Refuse To Be A Victim®, at rsprague@nrahq.org or 703-267-1394.

Refuse To Be A Victim® coordinator Ruthann Sprague is especially busy at this time of year. The NRA's Annual Meeting attracts thousands of NRA members eager to learn from top Refuse To Be A Victim® instructors. (Read more about the Refuse events happening at this year's Annual Meeting!)

Sprague, pictured at right addressing the 2009 Youth Education Summit, passed NRAblog this important update:

We are excited to announce Refuse To Be A Victim® has been integrated with NRAinstructors.org. With this integration, Refuse To Be A Victim® instructors and Regional Counselors can easily manage their events, student registrations and information, and conveniently submit their event registration and attendance reports to NRA Headquarters.

You can log in through www.nrainstructors.org or you will be re-directed to the new site from the Refuse To Be A Victim® web pages. Members of the public will also be able to locate Refuse To Be A Victim® Seminar or Instructor Development Workshop (IDW) information from either web page.