You can listen to anyone. So…Why us?
We met several years ago at A Girl & A Gun Conference. We were from opposite ends of the country, opposite ends of the training spectrum and how shall we say it, “different” age groups. But we found a commonality when discussing issues with our training and our students. Tatiana’s perspective, training and experience had been based on practical application of self-defense skill sets. Judi had been focused more on the sporting aspect of self-defense through competition, and has recently transitioned into real world application. Our commonality? We are both bound and determined to give women new to shooting the best experience and education possible.
Neither one of us has Law Enforcement or military background. We aren’t pretending to be ninjas or commandos. We come from a background of Martial Arts and self-defense utilizing less-than-lethal tools. We strongly agree that a firearm should be the last resort response, and that other options are viable based on the circumstances. Many women don’t want to use firearms, and they have the right and should have the opportunity to be responsibly armed with less lethal options.
We have a unique set of life experiences and insatiable curiosity that led us to the Shooting Sports. We are driven to seek out as much knowledge and experience as possible, and have trained from both a student’s and an instructor’s perspective. We have travelled all over the country training with different instructors and getting nuggets of wisdom from whomever would talk to us, both separately and together. Tatiana usually hits the “tactical” problem solving classes, and Judi opts for the “how does this work and why” classes.
One evening, hanging out on the roof deck, we were having one of “those” discussions ….you know, the kind about “what to do if you are in your pj’s hiding behind the bed when a bad guy comes in the door”. One of us (clearly it was Tatiana) had the instructor’s mindset and a practiced, calm response; the other (guess who?) was just concerned that she could locate her firearm and actually be able to see. We realized that there are probably thousands of women, with varying experience and knowledge, who face the same dilemmas. How fun would it be to talk to the top authorities in the field and tell everyone what was said in our conversations? Responsibly Armed Radio came into being, and the rest is history.
We invite you to join us while we seek out the experts to educate us.
Be Safe, Be Smart, and Be Responsibly Armed!
Judi and Tatiana
Tatiana Whitlock is a firearms instructor, hunter, and outdoor enthusiast residing in the majestic state of Maine. Tatiana works with men, women & youth to establish a real-world foundation of firearm skills, safety, and situational awareness. A lifelong interest in martial arts resulted in the inevitable introduction to firearms as a means of self and home protection. As a mother of two, Tatiana takes the safety of her family seriously and knows that in a worst-case scenario the first responder on the scene is her. The training that she offers brings participants’ mindset out of the square range and into the context of daily life. Tatiana is an NRA BPI, RSO and Refuse to Be a Victim instructor in addition to being a featured host & instructor on Trigger Time TV airing on the Pursuits Channel. Tatiana is an Account Strategist with San Diego marketing agency Fidelitas Development, Director of Training at Howell’s Indoor Range and Shooting Academy in Gray, Maine and the Director of Training for the national women shooting league, A Girl and A Gun. She is a contributing author for numerous industry publications and the NRA Women’s Network and co-host of Civilian Carry Radio. She is the Maine Delegate for the DC Project.
Web: https://www.tatianawhitlock.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tatianawhitlock
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tatianawhitlock
Judi Wells’ firearms story isn’t the typical one. She was a huge anti-gunner and firmly believed that no one needed “an assault style weapon” or any type of firearm. When her husband told her that getting a gun was on his bucket list, needless to say, it was a shock. After several “discussions”, she decided that she’d better figure out how to be safe with a gun in the house. The rest is history… and several lessons later, Judi found a new passion in life. Since then, she has been introduced to the many facets of gun ownership; sport, target practice, home defense and personal safety. She has been fortunate enough to train with instructors all over the country. Judi is the facilitator for the San Diego Chapter of A Girl & A Gun, guest host for GunSports Radio, and is frequently sought out for her perspective and advice for women in the shooting community. She trains women at all levels, from women who have never touched a firearm through more experienced shooters who want to start competing. She enjoys all platforms- pistol, rifle and shotgun. At the moment, she is enthusiastically going down the rabbit hole of sporting clays. Judi is an NRA Certified Pistol, Rifle and Shotgun Instructor. She is a Chief Range Safety Officer and runs NRA Refuse to Be A Victim and Home Firearm Safety classes. She is the mother of five, and worked as a Speech and Language Pathologist for over 30 years. Judi resides in San Diego with her husband and two cats.
Web: https://www.agirlandagun.org/cat/ca-san-diego/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AGAGSanDiegoCA/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agagsandiego/
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