Garnet Valley-Born Defense Instructor Adjusts Trainings to Include New Responses to Threats

Edward Iannucci, a Garnet Valley native and self-defense instructor, adjusts his trainings after each mass shooting to include new responses to threats, writes Anna Orso for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

“Every time we hit a new level of violence,” said Iannucci, “our training has to evolve.”

Iannucci, who owns Kim’s Karate and Philadelphia Nightclub Security Training in Wyncote, has been evolving from the very start. He bought a Kim’s Karate branch in 1997, and soon saw the need to add a bullying prevention program.

Three years later, he started teaching self-defense and nonlethal tactics to bouncers. However, one thing he’s still not able to do is train schools for active shooter situations. As a father of two, he can’t bear the thought of a fatal shooting at a school where he trained.

According to Iannucci, ending violence comes down to teaching kids to be better to one another.

“If more kids build up their self-esteem at a young age,” he said, then there might be fewer kids “growing up and killing people.”

Read more about Edward Iannucci in the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.