The problem with weapon lights... [updated with pics]

[dreyna14]

[Formerlyknownas]

I woulda held him there until OPD arrived.

[tradecraft]

Add some motion lights to your backyard.

[Citadelgrad87]

Wrong. A decent light will more than illuminate a target directly ahead while pointed at the ground in front of the shooter.

And get some motion activated yard lighting.

[blkside]

The post should be, the problem with weapon lights is that owners seem to no longer need hand held lights... until they do.

[Rockit]

Nothing wrong with holding someone at gunpoint in a situation like that.
Anything else and you're a step behind if the situation goes bad

[frahuang]

In general don't go outside with a gun. Glad everything is ok in the end.

[seal20]

Wrong. A decent light will more than illuminate a target directly ahead while pointed at the ground in front of the shooter.

And get some motion activated yard lighting.

THIS

[hermosabeach]

Maybe you want a brighter light?


Indoors- one can be high ready and light up the ceiling without violating rule 2-
Never cover something you are not willing to destroy.


One can also illuminate from low ready, sul etc

You can violate 1 rule and not hurt anything


In your scenario there are really 3 rules for safety 2,3 and 4

(1- not applied - you know the gun is loaded- you did chamber and mag check right? It better be loaded)

2- point /cover something you are not willing to kill / shoot / destroy
3- finger off trigger and out of trigger guard until ready to shoot
4- know target - and what is around, behind and in front of the threat


So - great job!

I stumbled through my first armed encounter. The fix for me was to start reading a ton of books and that led to taking classes.

[boattail]

Since this is not the first time I would be installing lights to illuminate every square inch of that back yard with the flip of one switch. Have all the lights facing away from the house. If you ever wake up to find the police in your backyard going outside with a gun in hand might turn ugly. Keep the gun out of sight until needed outdoors.

[hermosabeach]

Oh
Don’t be surprised when you get into an aggressive stance, present a firearm, order commands and they ignore everything completely.


This generation does not think a gun being pointed at them means squat!
This generation does not think you die nor have lasting injuries from a gun shot.

Look at “1/2 dollar” the rapper and his claims of being shot 7-9 different times.

They will “Do what they do”

[JohnnyMtn]

[CaliforniaCowboy]

If he saw you pointing your gun, He might be a lot less likely to return.

Many years ago when I was like 17, Before I had a gun. One night our dog was barking agressivly towards the back of our property, we have a back fence and beyond that another fence, between the two we have a shed. I grabbed my flashlight, one of those old school 4 D cell mag lights that double as a billy club with the cop hold where you hold it up at the front so you can swing it easily if you need to.

I go through the back fence and see a bicycle with a basket on the front of it sitting against the further back fence, the other side of that fence was an open area with rail tracks. I did not recognize that bike, I open the door of the shed expecting someone to be in there as that is where the dog is indicating and sure enough some scruffy-looking dude in there with some of my wrenches in his hands. My mom was at the back door watching and I tell her to call the cops. I ask the guy WTF he is doing in my shed, he tells me he is just hiding, some black guys were chasing him and he hopped my fence to hide and he was just going to use the wrenches to protect himself. I tell him to drop the wrenches and get the hell out of here before the cops arrive.

I walk him out of my yard ready to crack him in the head if he tries anything, walk him out the front gate and tell him to GTF out of here. He heads down the road on his bicycle. I could have held him there till the cops showed up but I wanted him away from my family asap.

The cops show up (BPD Bakersfield by the way), I tell them the story, give a description and let them know what direction he headed out in and about half an hour or so later the cop comes back and says they found the guy and want me to come ID him. I take a ride with the officer to some wrecking yard with a tiny travel trailer sitting on the property and they walk the guy out and I ID him.

They found the guy close to there on his bike, he had tools and other items in his bike basket and wanted me to look through it to see if any of it was mine, none if it was, I caught him before he could take anything since they figured it was stolen property they made him take the officers to where he lived and they searched the trailer and found all kinds of stolen property that the guy had been stealing from people in the area. He had a buddy living with him there and apparently, they both worked together, **** his buddy was probably on the other side of the fence waiting for him and looking out on that side when I caught him in my shed.

They locked his *** up and hopefully, some of that property got back to its owners.

I hope they catch your guy. If I had a gun at the time I would have held him on my property until the cops arrived but only had a mag light. Who knows, the guy that was in your back yard could be the next Night Stalker. He could be a rapist, I would have had no problem holding a gun on that guy until the cops arrived, let the cops figure out who this guy is, if he is wanted before he ends up doing something to someone else.

[dreyna14]

Wrong. A decent light will more than illuminate a target directly ahead while pointed at the ground in front of the shooter.

And get some motion activated yard lighting.

(1- not applied - you know the gun is loaded- you did chamber and mag check right? It better be loaded)

Everything was checked as soon as I got it out of the safe. Light working, mag loaded and round chambered. Unfortunately, it took four attempts to get the right code punched in to open the safe. The lighting in my office closet is poor, at best. I may install a light in the closet with a contact on the door. I open the door and it turns on. I have a circuit I can run it from and the ability to make it work.

[wooshna]

sorry to see you had to go through that.

Now as to the "not having a weapon light" I believe having a weapon light is essential in owning a home defense gun. Identifying your target is critical in making that decision to either shoot or not.

What if you went out there while the person was scarred and trying to avoid your dogs and was armed himself? While your yelling at him he points his gun at you and starts shooting. In that moment he could have taken you out then your dogs and fled, leaving your wife to deal with the aftermath.

Training with your weapon light is critical as well as having the basic discipline to keep your finger off the trigger. In high stress situations where someone is in your house in the middle of the night the last thing i'm worried about is pointing my gun at the invader in my home. I'd rather see my target to make sure its not my wife, kids or family members who have a key to my home.

Just like you I have 2 dogs for protection as well and a odin mini light on my HD semi auto shotgun. My dogs have 2 commands they understand in these situation "Monkey balls = attack the invader" and "check check = search and corner" every time I let them out I always say "check check" they clear the back yard before coming back for the ok to pee/poop/play outside. If they find someone and corner him/her in the middle of the night my weapons light is to ensure they are not a threat (not carrying a knife, bat, gun etc.) my gun pointing at them is to ensure that if they are a threat I can deal with it quickly and decisively.