Wow, always fun to see how people will react to what you thought may be helpful. Thanks for helping me remember why I do what I do.
To those who thanked me for my service, I love my job. There's nothing like the feeling of helping another person.
Let me see if I can answer some questions without quoting them.
Yes, I can activate the switch just fine with the gloves on. I refuse to put anything on my uniform that I cannot use with my gloves. Of course, I think about this when picking my gloves. On busy nights, I often times keep my gloves on constantly, and so just about everything has to be done with the gloves. I train with gloves on, this includes day and night shooting. Night shooting exercises of course include a flashlight. Goes back to the old rule, training will kick in, so train the way you go in real life.
Placing the light bezel down while off? Yes, actually we do this quite often. Sometimes I'm searching a car, and will place my light bezel down on the roof of the car, or center console, or what have you, and it's nice to know its on or off. That's just one simple use I can think of.
No I don't typically wear sunglasses at night, and while I wore those for the pictures mostly because it always makes me laugh when I see the "tactical" shots you see in gun rags where these "operators" are wearing shades, there is reason behind this. At the beginning of my shift, I do in fact wear sunglasses. Sometimes, you get to a call that turns into a hot call, or you chase someone on foot, or what have you, when you don't have time to remove the sunglasses. You go from sunny outside to real dark bedroom in an apartment, and what happens? You are stuck wearing your sunglasses, holding out your gun, and holding a flashlight. So there you go. That's how you end up wearing sunglasses and needing a flashlight. Just one of the many things I learned long after being out of police academy. Some things they can't teach you in a classroom.
No I was not on duty writing the review and taking the pictures. And yes, there was one in the pipe. There was nobody on the other side of that camera. It's called a self timer. Reason I didn't unload the gun is very simple. I took it out of the holster to take the picture, and immediately put it back in. Even though I was at home in my own private property, there is always a concern when being in uniform. I know I'm responsible enough to keep it chambered without shooting it. Just because it's chambered doesn't mean I can't handle the firearm. I know it's loaded. It's always loaded. I pull it out of the holster multiple times each time I'm on duty, and don't fire it. It's just simple discipline and training. And those are Gold Dots, but I do love Winchester Rangers.
I'll try to take some video tonight when I go on duty with the light.
