A stranger that tried to harm me, and that’s a feeling of like powerlessness, you know, that I never want to feel again, and I don’t want anybody else ever have to feel that either. And with training with self defense, that’s why I’m so passionate about it, teaching women to gain that confidence,” Bernotsky said.

“It’s empowering, helping them build the skills to be able to defend themselves,” she said. “Building these skills where they feel confident to carry a firearm, to be able to use it if they ever have to. That’s huge.”