marchelle: my name is marchelle tig washington. this is trigger happy firearm instruction, my company. i've been teaching for about a year and a half, now i started out in the military, shooting rifles. reporter: marchelle tig washington's courses cater to african-american women. her workshops across the country are always fully booked. lesson one -- safety training with dummy guns. it may look like fun, but the participants take it very seriously. doris: i have never shot a gun before. but with the way things are going now, it's really necessary that we all learn how to protect ourselves. katherine: i think that after the incident a few weeks ago in charlottesville, it just occurred to me that we can't totally depend on law enforcement to protect us, to be there for us. reporter: the white supremacists rally in virginia this summer confirmed for many that open racism remains widespread in the u.s. it's a factor cited by many of the women flocking to marchelle washington's courses. once they're at the shooting range, the first step