I'll differ with Mas assumptions here.
1.) If I'm on my property, the likelihood I get charged with a felony for aiming a firearm at an intruder is next to nil. The likelihood I'd even get more than a mild suggestion not to is nil, because I don't like in a commie shithole state. If its dark, and you're trespassing, especially out here in the country - just getting a gun pointed in your general direction should be the least of your worries.
2.) I said it before, but I'll say it again for the slow kids or those who didn't see it before - you *do*not*have*to*point*the*gun*at*something*to*illuminate*it - especially indoors. You can bounce the light off the floor, off the wall, or off the ceiling and illuminate things, without pointing your gun at it. Mas talks about this - then says "but your instinct is to point the gun at a person if you see it" - no shit - If I'm searching a building as just me, myself and I - I'm searching MY property. I know who is and is not allowed to be there. I can ID them in a fraction of a second. That means I know who is *not* supposed to be there in that same time - if you're in my place or on my property when its dark enough I need the light - you're damn skippy right I'm going to point my gun at you and we're going to have a serious chat, at the very least. Not going to jail for it either.
If I'm LE or security - I've been called to investigate an intruder - I have reason to believe that anyone lurking about in the dark does NOT have a right to be there, and thus I can reasonably articulate WHY I pointed a gun at them - I have reason to believe that they are committing a felony IE burglary. If they can prove they have a right to be there, ok, no harm no foul. No one's going to jail unless someone gets shot that doesn't need shooting. Someone *may* need to change their pants, but lessons will be learned.
3.) Nothing precludes you from utilizing BOTH a weapon mounted light, and a hand held light. You can do both. I've done it. You can actually brighten things up by activating both lights, if you need more punch than one light alone gives you. Kind of like turning the high beams on on your car. You can always drop the hand held light if you need to.
4.) The benefits of a weapon mounted light are numerous. I can use one hand to both control the pistol AND activate the light if I need it, while keeping my other hand free for other tasks - such as grasping the arm of my child, opening a door, carrying someone / something, dialing 9-1-1 on my cell phone, etc. Then there is another little, slight benefit, few people talk about. Lights = muzzle weights. Your gun isn't going to be as snappy recoiling, and will return to rest easier, because you've got 2-4 ounces on the nose of the gun helping keep the muzzle down.
5.) IF I am in a professional situation that requires me to search a building - IE law enforcement or private security - I damn sure will be using my weapon mounted light and not a hand held light because I can have TWO hands on my gun to shoot, unless I have to manipulate something with my off hand, which, aw geez, I covered above. I still don't have to point the gun at something to light it up, but I damn sure can if it looks like a threat. I'm probably only going to jail at that point if I wind up shooting someone that didn't need shooting. Once again - if I'm supposed to be there, and they aren't - getting a gun pointed at them with a flashlight attached is low on the list of bad things that can happen to them. Show me the police officer clearing a building without their gun in their hand, I'll show you a person who should be selling shoes at Al's Discount Boot Bin instead of wearing a badge. His / her / its survival chances are a lot higher schlepping shoes to fat chicks, than wandering around dark buildings looking for badguys without their gun out and ready.
6.) God forbid you have to shoot someone - your going to be more accurate with a solid two hand grip on the gun, than with one hand on a flashlight, and one on the pistol. Even using the Harries technique with hands back to back to brace the gun - your recoil control isn't going to be as good, so your follow up shots won't be as quick or likely as accurate as if you have a firm two handed grip on your gun. Even under the best circumstances, the hit rate in the average police or citizen defender shooting isn't great - why handicap yourself unnecessarily because of the slight chance someone will get their feels hurt because you pointed a scary gun at them, while they were trespassing / burglarizing your place, etc?
7.) If I'm using a long gun to search shit at night, I am using a weapon mounted light, period. I guess you could bastardize the already retarded Center Axis Relock bullshit, and use the crook of your support arm to try supporting the muzzle end of your long gun, while you have your trusty 6P in hand - you're still aiming a gun at something at that point, and you're just being retarded about it. If you are NOT using a white light (or IR + night vision, if you're a rich bitch night ninja) and searching in the dark with a long gun, you're doing it wrong and probably going to shoot someone or something that doesn't need shot by being startled, more than the person using a white light properly. And again - even with a long gun - you don't have to point the gun at what you're looking at to illuminate them - use splash illumination off the floor / wall / ceiling, etc.
Mas has a lot of good information, but he's not infallable, and I think he's flat wrong on the notion of weapon lights. He wants to bring *hunting* with a scoped rifle in as a corrolarry on the use of lights. That's a big jump. If I'm clearing a dark building, I don't need magnification, but I need *light* to ID someone. A telescopic sight isn't going to ID someone if it's pointed at their feet but a white light will give me enough info to let me know if its something I probably SHOULD be pointing a gun at. Am I going to bumble around with my gun pointed at *my* feet, with my hand held light and wind up behind the curve if a burglar - who could well be armed themselves - has their gun already in hand and pointed at me? Nope - I can get a shot off from low ready or high ready a lot faster than if its hanging down by my leg, or still in the holster - especially if we're talking uniformed folk in a retention holster.
There is room for both - and you should practice with both - lights are light red dot sights - they can and do fail. Batteries die. I carry a hand held everywhere, every day. It gets used a lot, daily even for the most mundane shit, like looking under my desk for something I dropped, or looking under a car seat. I WON'T be doing that with my WML. And if the battery in my WML dies, I can use a hand held light and still do what needs doing.
1.) If I'm on my property, the likelihood I get charged with a felony for aiming a firearm at an intruder is next to nil. The likelihood I'd even get more than a mild suggestion not to is nil, because I don't like in a commie shithole state. If its dark, and you're trespassing, especially out here in the country - just getting a gun pointed in your general direction should be the least of your worries.
2.) I said it before, but I'll say it again for the slow kids or those who didn't see it before - you *do*not*have*to*point*the*gun*at*something*to*illuminate*it - especially indoors. You can bounce the light off the floor, off the wall, or off the ceiling and illuminate things, without pointing your gun at it. Mas talks about this - then says "but your instinct is to point the gun at a person if you see it" - no shit - If I'm searching a building as just me, myself and I - I'm searching MY property. I know who is and is not allowed to be there. I can ID them in a fraction of a second. That means I know who is *not* supposed to be there in that same time - if you're in my place or on my property when its dark enough I need the light - you're damn skippy right I'm going to point my gun at you and we're going to have a serious chat, at the very least. Not going to jail for it either.
If I'm LE or security - I've been called to investigate an intruder - I have reason to believe that anyone lurking about in the dark does NOT have a right to be there, and thus I can reasonably articulate WHY I pointed a gun at them - I have reason to believe that they are committing a felony IE burglary. If they can prove they have a right to be there, ok, no harm no foul. No one's going to jail unless someone gets shot that doesn't need shooting. Someone *may* need to change their pants, but lessons will be learned.
3.) Nothing precludes you from utilizing BOTH a weapon mounted light, and a hand held light. You can do both. I've done it. You can actually brighten things up by activating both lights, if you need more punch than one light alone gives you. Kind of like turning the high beams on on your car. You can always drop the hand held light if you need to.
4.) The benefits of a weapon mounted light are numerous. I can use one hand to both control the pistol AND activate the light if I need it, while keeping my other hand free for other tasks - such as grasping the arm of my child, opening a door, carrying someone / something, dialing 9-1-1 on my cell phone, etc. Then there is another little, slight benefit, few people talk about. Lights = muzzle weights. Your gun isn't going to be as snappy recoiling, and will return to rest easier, because you've got 2-4 ounces on the nose of the gun helping keep the muzzle down.
5.) IF I am in a professional situation that requires me to search a building - IE law enforcement or private security - I damn sure will be using my weapon mounted light and not a hand held light because I can have TWO hands on my gun to shoot, unless I have to manipulate something with my off hand, which, aw geez, I covered above. I still don't have to point the gun at something to light it up, but I damn sure can if it looks like a threat. I'm probably only going to jail at that point if I wind up shooting someone that didn't need shooting. Once again - if I'm supposed to be there, and they aren't - getting a gun pointed at them with a flashlight attached is low on the list of bad things that can happen to them. Show me the police officer clearing a building without their gun in their hand, I'll show you a person who should be selling shoes at Al's Discount Boot Bin instead of wearing a badge. His / her / its survival chances are a lot higher schlepping shoes to fat chicks, than wandering around dark buildings looking for badguys without their gun out and ready.
6.) God forbid you have to shoot someone - your going to be more accurate with a solid two hand grip on the gun, than with one hand on a flashlight, and one on the pistol. Even using the Harries technique with hands back to back to brace the gun - your recoil control isn't going to be as good, so your follow up shots won't be as quick or likely as accurate as if you have a firm two handed grip on your gun. Even under the best circumstances, the hit rate in the average police or citizen defender shooting isn't great - why handicap yourself unnecessarily because of the slight chance someone will get their feels hurt because you pointed a scary gun at them, while they were trespassing / burglarizing your place, etc?
7.) If I'm using a long gun to search shit at night, I am using a weapon mounted light, period. I guess you could bastardize the already retarded Center Axis Relock bullshit, and use the crook of your support arm to try supporting the muzzle end of your long gun, while you have your trusty 6P in hand - you're still aiming a gun at something at that point, and you're just being retarded about it. If you are NOT using a white light (or IR + night vision, if you're a rich bitch night ninja) and searching in the dark with a long gun, you're doing it wrong and probably going to shoot someone or something that doesn't need shot by being startled, more than the person using a white light properly. And again - even with a long gun - you don't have to point the gun at what you're looking at to illuminate them - use splash illumination off the floor / wall / ceiling, etc.
Mas has a lot of good information, but he's not infallable, and I think he's flat wrong on the notion of weapon lights. He wants to bring *hunting* with a scoped rifle in as a corrolarry on the use of lights. That's a big jump. If I'm clearing a dark building, I don't need magnification, but I need *light* to ID someone. A telescopic sight isn't going to ID someone if it's pointed at their feet but a white light will give me enough info to let me know if its something I probably SHOULD be pointing a gun at. Am I going to bumble around with my gun pointed at *my* feet, with my hand held light and wind up behind the curve if a burglar - who could well be armed themselves - has their gun already in hand and pointed at me? Nope - I can get a shot off from low ready or high ready a lot faster than if its hanging down by my leg, or still in the holster - especially if we're talking uniformed folk in a retention holster.
There is room for both - and you should practice with both - lights are light red dot sights - they can and do fail. Batteries die. I carry a hand held everywhere, every day. It gets used a lot, daily even for the most mundane shit, like looking under my desk for something I dropped, or looking under a car seat. I WON'T be doing that with my WML. And if the battery in my WML dies, I can use a hand held light and still do what needs doing.
