Eve Flanigan - Ready to Defend: Tips for Living the Armed Lifestyle

Thanks for picking up this book.

I'll spare you all but a few mundane details of my past. Like you, Ive had some great teachers, many enjoyable moments, and a handful of traumas that contributed to the formation of present-day me. This book is written for anyone seeking to live, or already living, an armed lifestyle that generally avoids and averts the need for violent self-protection, and maintains readiness to use violence to restore personal safety if and when necessary.

The word defense appears in the title and will be encountered frequently in this book. It's a term I use with hesitation. Mostly I employ it because people immediately understand the concept. However, the word does carry a sort of expectation that victimhood has already been established. If you were here and we had a carafe of joe or growler of good IPA and two hours to kill, we might discuss how this is the case one way or another at a societal level. But the content here is real-life level. Its my expectation that you'll do, as will I, what it takes for victimization to not even begin, and that if it does, that we meet it with a higher level of ferocity that sends the threat packing or into the dirt. That adage action is faster than reaction is a law of nature.

Our society is a litigious one, and while talk is cheap, action can be very costly. As an instructor, I assume my clients prefer not to spend their assets on legal defense fees nor their years in prison or sustain serious injuries if they can avoid those outcomes. While avoidance of trouble is a priority, sometimes violence is the only reasonable solution. When that's the case, more study and practical training are positively correlated with positive physical and legal outcomes. In today's political climate, it is folly to believe that one will not encounter activism while navigating the criminal justice system. The extent to which one allows collectivist values to run roughshod over individual rights is a personal decision, but the extent of damage can be diminished with solid training on the application of deadly and less severe forms of force.

In the field of self-protection, we all stand on the shoulders of giants. Anyone who says otherwise is full of it. What I share here is a compilation of information that Ive found useful as a practitioner and teacher. Some people have come back for lessons over the years, a few have their own stories of prevailing in the face of a criminal threat, so at least some of this information is working for them. As with most things associated with a practice, specific techniques vary. My way is not the only way. I have been fortunate to have had training from and friendships with extraordinarily talented, experienced mentors. This book is my way of passing on their words to you.

Most of the material here first appeared elsewhere, in contributions to various gun-related blogs or magazines. When I finally quit my real job and went out on my own as a freelance writer and instructor, I was kindly welcomed by numerous media outlets. One family-run holster company in Texas, 1Bravo Concealment, hit me up a couple years ago to contribute blog articles. Their staff assigned topics every month, mostly ones to support new gun owners and concealed carry. Over a couple years, that work began to form a sort of primer on How To Behave as a concealed carrier. With their permission, much of that material is collated here. I am grateful to all my industry partners, Bravo Concealment in particular, for their support and, by virtue of assigning topics, sometimes pushing me to articulate things which are often more comfortable to assumebut there is no benefit in keeping those assumptions to myself.

Rifles are my first love with firearms, but kind of hard to carry when doing stuff like stacking hay or feeding the dogs. Between the written work for Bravo Concealment and having taught over 100 concealed carry classes to fellow civilians in the past decade, not to mention carrying my own handgun daily for about 15 years, handguns have become my area of greatest proficiency for both use and training. So the frequent references to handguns and concealed carry here are a natural progression. They represent the handiest, most affordable, and effective force equalizer available to us aside from a motor vehicle, but since I cant sleep with my pickup tucked under the mattress, I settle for a handgun.

It is a joy to share with others the skills associated with the freedoms that Americans enjoy. I am grateful for the blood and sweat shed by those who purchased and preserved it. Students often comment that Im a patient instructor, albeit one who says too many cuss words and off-color remarks on the range. The patience doesnt come from me. It comes from an honor of the American legacy and the hope that, by sharing it, I contribute to the continuance of existing liberties and the reclamation of freedoms lost.