BEHIND THE LINE PHOTO BY OLEG VOLK • A-HUMAN-RIGHT.COM Weapon-Mounted Lights f o r P r i v a t e C i t i z e n s [ BY TOM GIVENS ]
There are worse things than being shot, and killing your own child or spouse is one of them. name of article here <strong>This</strong> is a continuation of our discussion from a previous column (Behind the Line, CCM January 2011) concerning shooting techniques for low light encounters. To recap our earlier discussion, there is a distinct difference between the low light needs of a SWAT police officer or a military door kicker (who are both quite often tasked with going into dark places to actively seek out bad guys) and the role of the private citizen in self defense. The flashlight is a “proactive instrument,” whereas the handgun is a “reactive instrument.” In a typical street robbery, carjacking, or similar crime resulting in a need for immediate self defense, there will be neither the time nor the need to deploy a flashlight. These events do not take place in total darkness, and the range involved is typically quite short, particularly in a low light environment. Realistically, about the only circumstance involving a flashlight and a handgun at the same time for a private citizen is in the home, at night, when investigating the proverbial “things that go bump in the night.” Here again though, the mission is still quite different for the homeowner and the SWAT officer serving a warrant. The homeowner should know the layout of the home, the location of choke points and obstacles, and have a general plan of action built on that knowledge. He won’t need the flashlight for navigation. Actually, the primary purpose of the flashlight for the homeowner will be target identification and target discrimination. The armed homeowner needs to know for certain if that is an intruder in the hallway or his teenage son sneaking in after curfew. Unless you live alone, this is a circumstance fraught with the possibility of a tragedy of disastrous proportions! You must know who that is before pointing a loaded deadly weapon at them under highly stressful conditions. There are worse things than being shot, and killing your own child or spouse is one of them. Let’s start with weapon-mounted lights, which are very fashionable right now. Almost all current defensive handgun designs include rails on the dust cover to allow the attachment of a compact light source, and several manufacturers make rugged, dependable pistol lights with high light output. Some years ago, I felt that these were a sensible addition to a dedicated home defense handgun, or “nightstand pistol,” particularly if coupled with a high capacity autoloader. If the homeowner grabbed the gun in the middle of the night, he would likely have enough ammo in a high-cap pistol, and the light source already attached would not have to be found and grabbed separately. However, recent developments have changed my opinion. In the past few months there have been two negligent shootings (one fatal) of unarmed suspects by police officers with a weapon mounted light on a handgun who were trying to illuminate a suspect. In both cases, the officer meant to activate the light, and unintentionally fired the gun, striking the suspect. Go back to the second paragraph above. If you are trying to light up the shadowy figure in the hall, but shoot your child unintentionally, you will have to live with the consequences. There are several factors at work here that make these tragedies more likely. First, few homeowners are going to train with the light on the gun to the point of learning to work the switches without getting a finger near the trigger, particularly under high stress. I’m not talking about getting practice firing the gun with the light attached. I’m talking about practicing using the light without firing the gun. Second, the Force Science Institute and other highly respected sources have documented the phenomenon of “trigger searching,” even among highly trained and skilled SWAT operators. Do a quick Google search on Force Science and “trigger search” for further enlightenment (forgive the pun). Third, if the only light you have is a weapon mounted light, you have to point the gun at everything you look at; a clear violation of Rule Two (never point your gun at anything you are not willing to destroy). Remember, the purpose of an illumination tool is to identify and discriminate a target before pointing a gun at it. <strong>This</strong> is not possible if your only light is weapon mounted. So, the bottom line is, even if you have a weapon mounted light (WML), you have to have a hand held light, as well. The WML is strictly for shooting, not for searching or for target identification. That brings us to hand-held flashlight techniques. We’ll discuss these in detail in the third installment in this series. H Tom Givens is the owner of Rangemaster in Memphis, TN. For over 30 years Tom’s duties have included firearms instruction. He is certified as an expert witness on firearms and firearms training, giving testimony in both state and federal courts. He serves as an adjunct instructor at the Memphis Police Department Training Academy, the largest in the state. Tom’s training resume includes certification from the FBI Police Firearms Instructor School, NRA Law Enforcement Instructor Development School, NRA Law Enforcement Tactical Shooting Instructor School, Gunsite 499 under Jeff Cooper, and more.
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