This course presents students with skills needed to effectively utilize a folding or fixed blade knife as a defensive tool. This class is designed to address realistic situations where a law-abiding citizen may have to utilize a knife to defend against a lethal force attack. The course introduces simple, effective movements that are easy to learn, court defensible, and work well under stress.

Topics Covered:

• Choosing a defensive knife

• Carry locations

• Drawing & opening the folding knife under stress

• Basic cutting angles and targets

• Three ways to use a knife to stop an attack

• Escaping life-threatening physical attacks with a knife

• Transitioning between knife & pistol

• Weapon retention using the knife

The class will run 9:00am to 4:00 pm with a short lunch break.

The class will be held on an outdoor shooting range. Please bring fluids for hydration and whatever sun protection you require. Course tuition INCLUDES the $10 per day range fee.

The class will be physically active, but it won't be exhausting for most students. If you can stand for two-three hours and are able to do light upper body exercise, you will not have any problems completing the class. You control your level of participation. I will attempt to scale the activity level for folks with physical limitations.

Minimum enrollment for this class is 10 people. If fewer than 10 students register, the class will be cancelled and you will get a full refund. You will also receive a full refund if the instructor is ill or subject to travel delays that would prevent him from teaching. With that said, I've only cancelled one class (due to my own illness) in my 25+ years of teaching open enrollment classes.

If you request a refund after registering, I will provide that refund as future class credit for any of the classes I teach. Barring exceptional circumstances, no refunds will be issued within 30 days of the class date.

About the instructor:

Greg Ellifritz is Active Response Training's President and Primary Instructor.

Greg recently retired after serving 25 years as a police officer. During his tenure, Greg spent 13 years as the full-time tactical training officer for a central Ohio police department. In that training position, he was responsible for developing and instructing all of the in-service training for his 55-officer agency. In addition to the training position, he also served as patrol officer, firearms armorer, bike patrol officer, bike patrol coordinator, sniper, and field training officer during the course of his career.

Greg holds instructor, master instructor, or armorer certifications in more than 80 different weapons systems, defensive tactics programs, and law enforcement specialty topics. In addition to these instructor certifications, Greg has successfully completed more than 4,500 hours of documented formal training with the leading firearms, empty hand fighting, and edged weapons instructors in the country.

Greg additionally served as an adjunct instructor for the Ohio Peace Officer’s Training Academy, teaching firearms, defensive tactics, bike patrol, knife defense, and physical fitness topics. He has taught firearms and self defense classes at the national and international level through The American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers, The International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors, Rangemaster Tactical Conference, and Ohio Association of Chiefs of Police.

He has a master’s degree in Public Policy and Management with a focus on criminal justice policy issues and has written for several publications and websites including: ‘The Firearms Instructor,” “Ohio Police Chief,” “Combat Handguns,” Survivalblog.com, “Concealed Carry Magazine,” Primedia's "Personal & Home Defense Annual," "Recoil Magazine," and “American Handgunner.”