Lynne Finch - Living an Armed Life: A Womans Guide to Adapting Her Carry to Her Changing Life

Copyright 2016 by Lynne Finch

Foreword Copyright 2016 by C. S. Wilson

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Tom Lau

Cover photo credit: Lynne Finch

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-0983-6

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0984-3

Printed in China

For Jim,

Thank you for your support and encouragement and for being all that you are.

Table of Contents

Foreword

I first met Lynne Finch in the blogging world several years ago. We were both fairly new gun bloggers, and much of our material complemented each other. Comments on each others blogs flowed back and forth, and a friendship was born.

She references an incident in this book about breaking her foot. What she did not mention was that she attended SHOT Show (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Showa trade-only show for the firearms industry) with said broken foot. I saw her during registration (the boot cast gave her away) and flagged her down for our first in-person meeting after a couple years of electronic communication.

What I have learned about Lynne since that time is that she is passionate about shooting and teaching others to shoot. She is fearless in her pursuits. When Lynne was first contemplating National Take Your Daughter to the Range Day, I was in awe. I mean, who thinks of things like that and then is able to pull it off? Truly, when she sets her mind to something, by God, shes going to achieve it.

Her first three books were well received and chock full of information presented in easily digestible pieces. Whereas many books about self-defense and shooting are nothing more than chest-pounding testosterone fests, Lynnes books take a common-sense approach to self-defense. When reading them, you feel as though you are having a conversation with her.

This fourth book is no different. She presents information that can be applied at any stage of life. I had to figure a lot of this information out for myself when I was a young, gun-carrying mother. There just werent any resources available twenty-some years ago, and many of the suggestions in this book were ones that I had to figure out by trial-and-error. Oh, how I wish Id had this resource then.

There are a lot of books on the market geared toward womens self-defense. There are even a few books that address self-defense for people with disabilities (temporary or permanent). But there are fewer books that acknowledge the uncertainty or loss of feeling safe, while giving real-life examples on how to regain that feeling. This book is one of those few.

What strikes me about this book is that Lynne expresses what many of us gun folk feel: If you are not absolutely certain you can shoot someone to save yourself or your family, then maybe you should look at alternative ways to keep safe. Instead of just stating that, though, Lynne then goes on to discuss the various options to do so; this is not a gun solves everything type of book. I am grateful for that, and I am certain others will be thankful as well.

C. S. Wilson, GunDiva

www.thegundivas.com

Introduction

S o many of us go through life ill-prepared for the wolf at the door. This is especially true for women.

Now, before everyone gets offended by that, lets look at a few statistics. According to our own U.S. Department of Justice statistics (2014), in 2013, nearly half of all crime victims were female. The bulk of these victims were between the ages of eighteen and forty-nine. Why is this important to know? Because it gives some perspective. This is the age range when many women are new college students away from home for the first time, out and about with our friends, our families, and relaxing at home. Indeed, this is the age where its sometimes our first foray truly away from protective parents. Same goes for new young mothers in this age range, who are active and on the move with shopping, day care, school drop-offs, and more.

Often we think the bad things in the world wont happen to us, that someone else will fall victim. Think about all those interviews you see on TV when a tragedy strikes. How often do you hear a local being interviewed who says to the camera, We never thought it would happen in our town, in our own backyard. Unfortunately, most victims feel the same way, even those in large cities, and especially those who feel they live in safer neighborhoods. This just doesnt happen here, theyll say, crime scene tape flapping around the telephone poles behind them.

Well, this does happen. I once had complications after surgery. It was a rare complication, and I asked my doctor what the odds were that this could have happened. He looked at me and said, For you, it was 100 percent. That got me thinking. What are the odds? Well, if nothing happens, zero! If it does, though, that doctor was right, its 100 percent.

When it comes to defending yourself in a world where this happens, do you know what to do if the worst happens? Have you made a plan to work with those worst-case scenarios? Do you train for those plans?

I do. I plan, I train, and then I teach and coach about itand now Im putting it all into this book.

This book is written with you in mind, whether youre a young woman, a mom or, like me, a woman whos getting older (and a little achy and perhaps a bit slower, too). Much of the advice youll find in these pages is focused on particular needs based on situations specific to women at different stages of your life. For instance, and generally speaking, you have different needs as a young mother in your mid-twenties than you do as a fifty-something mom whose hips are a bit arthritic and whose kids have flown the coop. But, regardless what stage of life youre in, its important to remember the title of the book Living an Armed Life , emphasis on the armed.

Im assuming the armed is the probable reason you picked up this book in the first place. Youre not alone, though you are at the head of the class, so to speak. Its a relatively new phenomenon in our culture that women are more often armed noweven newer that, when part of a couple, women are carrying right alongside their partners. Nothing wrong with that. In fact, there are lots of things right with that, because aside from all the trite things youll hear about womens empowerment, the bottom line is that its important to be able to defend yourself and your family, with or without backup from your other half.

I hope you never need the information here, and that you are at zero when it comes to the chances of bad things happening to you. But, should you find yourself in the middle of becoming the other side of that statistic, I also hope that you have taken heed of the advice here and that it is helpful for you.