MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A self-defense expert wants to give Memphians a crash course on how to survive the violent crime in Memphis.

Don Adams, owner of the Threat Response Training Group on South Main, is offering a three-hour seminar called “Surviving Memphis” in East Memphis in October.

He said the title of the seminar may offend some, but he wanted to get people’s attention and provide them with some basic skills that could save their lives.

“It’s not meant as a slam against Memphis,” said Adams. “We have to get serious about this, and with no disrespect to police, no one is coming to save you. You have to be your own first responder.”

Numbers released by the Memphis Police Department this week show already this year, there have been 215 murders and 186 homicides. That compares to 153 murders and 186 homicides in 2022.

Adams has been teaching self-defense classes in Memphis for more than five years and said he’s getting calls from more and more people, especially women, who want to know what they can do to be safer.

Adams said he wants to teach people how to fight back but also how to avoid dangerous situations altogether.

“We have five skill sets of self-defense, and within those are what I call soft skills. The soft skills are like predictive avoidance, where if you’re going to go somewhere that night, go to a club or something, do I really need to go there? What kind of reputation does the club have? Who am I going with? How am I getting there? How am I getting home?” Adams said. “We also talk about environmental awareness.”

Adams said many people may not have time for a traditional four-week self-defense course, so he hopes to pack in as much as possible on Saturday morning.

“They can get an introduction to what self-defense is all about and kind of get rid of some of these myths and misconceptions about what kind of person they have to be in order to exercise good self-defense,” he said.

The seminar is $99 and is limited to 20 people. For more information about the October 7 event, click right here.