In light of the Sutherland Springs shooting, more and more clergymen and churchgoers are taking up arms, the mantra “the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is with a good guy with a gun” ringing in their ears.

However, a good guy with a gun isn’t much help if he (or she) doesn’t know how to properly use that firearm, especially in a high stress situation.

That’s where Top Guns owner, Steve Ellis comes in.

The local Indiana gun shop and range offered free firearms training to 24 churches in the area last weekend. More specifically, volunteer gun experts taught church officials what to do in an active shooter situation, including how to identify the shooter.

“Part of it is situational awareness, threat assessment, be a good whiteness, knowing what to look for and what to watch out for so that you can get that information and communicate to other members of the team,” Ellis tells MyWabashValley.com.

With only one day of training and over 40 attendees, the Top Guns owner knows they didn’t prepare everyone for everything. But that wasn’t the goal.

“We may not be able to catch every scenario but man, if we can catch some of these, boy that would be a great thing to be able to prevent the next incident from taking place,” Ellis explains.

Hopefully, more gun ranges across the country start offering these types of classes – and open them up to all citizens, not just church officials.

As Ellis says: “Don’t go through life being scared. But do go through life being prepared.”