LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - Greater Lafayette self-defense trainers are looking at national active shooter attacks as a reason to teach people to protect themselves.

On Saturday, the Krav Maga gym in West Lafayette held an active shooter training. More than 20 people attended, which is a fairly large group according to West Lafayette gym Krav Maga owner Rob Mendenhall.

“We're doing an active attacker workshop,” said Mendenhall. “Kind of putting a lot of emphasis on church teams, school safety teams because this is a prevalent threat that keeps popping up.”

Many people in attendance came representing a church congregation in Greater Lafayette. Mendenhall said this workshop is in response to a deadly shooting at the West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, Texas on Dec. 29. Two people were killed before a volunteer security guard stepped in and fatally shot the attacker.

“After the incident in Texas people had started talking, you know, hey are we that prepared how will we handle it,” said Mendenhall.

Mendenhall said this training is all about being proactive instead of reactive.

“A lot of stopping the gunman before the gunman can do anything reading body language, understanding how to stop somebody, preventing an attack from even starting,” said Mendenhall.

“I'm new to carrying and I've always been told that you can't effectively carry if you don't actually know how to create the distance,” said workshop attendee, Catharine Voorees.

Like Voorees, others who carry their own weapons are leaving the workshop with lessons beyond how to handle their gun.

“Just a heightened sense of awareness of where I am in public and what a threat looks like,” said Jason Pletcher, workshop attendee.

And those who don't carry say they’re also soaking in some necessary skills.

“They're really encouraging us to go full strength with everything and so it's really making it seem realistic and really helping out a lot just with the practical application,” said Kyle Bordner, workshop attendee.

Krav Maga is an Israel-based military self-defense and fighting system. Outside of active shooter training the West Lafayette gym hosts classes for women and children. You can sign up for the next class here.