self defense with LED?

[aml]

Speed, surprise, and violence of action....
The things needed to defeat ones foes.

like another poster said, "good luck"
Ill conceived is the notion shining a flashlight in someones eyes is adequate self defense.

 

[woodrow]

I convinced a drunk teenager I was a cop once by shining a Surefire 9p in his eyes and yelling at him to get on the ground. (he was trashing the front of a business next to where I was getting gas at 2am. I went over to see what he was doing. I was still dressed in a white shirt, tie, and dark slacks so I guess I could have passed for a detective or something. He started walking up to me sluring 'do you want a piece of me?!)

As I look back at it now, I feel stupid and lucky. If he would have had a knife, or a gun or bat....I could have been in trouble. Luckily he was young, drunk and stupid.

I think a light is better than nothing, but unless its attached to a ASP or better yet a pistol or shotgun or rifle...I would not want it to be all I had. Just my .02

 

[270winchester]

I believe Tigerlight is working on something like that as we speak.

 

[greenstuffs]

I don't think it would be the best choice as it will only incapacitate the subject for a breif period of time, after that he/she will be pretty pissed off. There is nothing better than the old 5D mag for SD heheh.

 

[RedLED]

Something you need to consider about pepper spray: Indoors, no problem.
Outdoors, if there is any wind, even a very light breeze, you have to be careful.

Years ago, I was at an event and a fight was taking place, when the police arrived they sprayed the suspects, and the wind blew all of the spray back on them and all of the other officers.

The suspects did not get any, and the entire team of officers were on their knees crying like babies. All of the officers. They were lucky this was just a dumb fight, and not something that could have got them all killled.

After watching this unfold, I had different thoughts on OC. Just be aware of your environment when you carry this.

Redled

PS... it was very, very, funny!

 

[RedLED]

Something you need to consider about pepper spray: Indoors, no problem.
Outdoors, if there is any wind even a very light breeze, you have to be careful.

Years ago, I was at an event and a fight was taking place, when the police arrived they sprayed the suspects, and the wind blew all of the spray back on them and all of the other officers.

The suspects did not get any, and the entire team of officers were on their knees crying like babies. All of the officers. They were lucky this was just a dumb fight, and not something that could have got them all killled.

After watching this unfold, I had different thoughts on OC. Just be aware of your environment when you carry this.

Redled

 

[adnj]

I don't know i have seen too many "cops videos on TV where the cop maces or pepper sprays a guy and the guy keeps on coming at him.

Even when armed, the best defense is to avoid the situation. Use the light for something like identifying the threat.

 

[idleprocess]

We see this subject only about every other week.

General concensus seems to be that any easily-portable light deployed at the ranges typically used for self-defense will not do much to deter an attacker. At the very least, you might momentarily disorient an attacker and widen an escape window.

Used properly by a trained or at least well-prepared individual in a situation where you get the drop on your would-be perp, flashlights can give you an edge, but only a slight one at best.

Used as a blunt objects, largish metal flashlights have been used to varying degrees of success. This seems to be where they offer the most advantage for self defense.

One is better off using other devices or methods for self-defense than flashlights. Situational awareness, training (be it armed or unarmed combat), weapons (take your pick depending on your skill and local laws), and numerus other areas I have neglected to mentions should probably be focued on well before you get down to flashlights.

 

[yalskey]

What is that suppose to mean? Did you even listen to my stance on this issue in the episode? Maybe I agree with you, maybe I don't, but don't just assume you know my stance before you hear it. (If I'm interpreting your smilely incorrectly, please let me know)

Speed, surprise, and violence of action....
The things needed to defeat ones foes.

like another poster said, "good luck"
Ill conceived is the notion shining a flashlight in someones eyes is adequate self defense.

By itself, in isolation, it is NOT adequate for most violent situations... especially inter-Human violence.

But saying a flashlight is NOT useful in a violent encounter is a bit mono-visioned. It may not be super useful in the way some people envision it to be... shinning it in someone's eyes from afar to inhibit or stun the assailant; but it certainly can be used for other advantageous reasons.

That is why Police patrol cars have bright spot lights mounted to them. That is why Police carry a good flashlight on them. That is why Maxabeam stays in business. That is why military use various quality vehical mounted and weapon (mostly Surefire from what I've seen) lights.

Behing behind a very bright light source is usually a big plus, versus being on the recieving end of that bright light. Don't assume a narrow definition of what violence is, and when you imagine a certain kind of flashlight in that proto-typical scenario, you conclude it would be of little use.

I'm not trying to bust anyone's chops here, I'm speaking with all due respect. But completely dismissing a flashlight as another tool / layer in your overall self-protection arsenal / toolbox is, althought maybe not a fatal flaw, certaining not an advantageous tactical outlook.

Just to be clear however, I do agree that many people put a false sense of security into on one option / layer of their self-protective portfolio. People get a can of pepper spray or "tactical flashlight"and assume they will be safe from an attack with that alone. That is just as foolish as assuming that flashlights and pepperspray are NOT useful for self-defense. Anything can be useful if used wisely in combination with good knowledge and in proportion with other aspects of self-defense.

For the record, I DO NOT think a determined attacker who is charging at you with intent to do you harm / kill will be affected in any significant way by you shinning a bright light in their eyes. Same goes for pepperspray. For that matter, same goes for a shot from a 9mm or a slash with a pocket knife. You shouldn't assume that would drop a person / instantly stop an aggressive advance like TV / movies show.

The point is to have layers of self-protective options that are all fused together with both wise knowledge about violence, and effective training / experience.

Ok, I'll stop blabbering now.

 

[Focal]

Its not an LED flash light, but I have seen armed forces use a green lazer emitting device which is aimed at the eyes of an assalent which flashes at a certain frequency causing severe disorientation and blindness to great effect. It certainly seemed to have a very similar effect to pepper spray!!! The bady ends up with zero vision and unable to mobilise! Its not a civilian tool tho.... for now anyway!

 

[firefly99]

I can picture a guy who owns one of those multi functional Fenix lights, telling the assaulter to wait a sec while he's finding the right mode to shine at him. LOL

:lolsign: :lolsign:

 

[RamJet]

I noticed that some LED flashlight are pretty intense, they could make someone blind, temporarily, so I wonder if instead of pepper spray, women can also use LED flash light now.

have you even heard of such a case?

she can try, however, in order to increase probability of success she should throw a flashlight at the attacker or she may knock him w/ this flashlight in a head. Did I mention the flashlight should be heavy ?



Seriously: no.

 

[MikeSalt]

I've read somewhere, that beyond 60 lumens, a light is considered 'tactical'. That is, that it is considered potent enough to cause temporary blindness to night-adapted vision.

 

[sysadmn]

so I wonder if instead of pepper spray, women can also use LED flash light now.

Only if it helps her see and identify the target. Lasers are good too, but only if you train with them.

Not to start a gun control thread, or anything

 

[Mike89]

But saying a flashlight is NOT useful in a violent encounter is a bit mono-visioned. It may not be super useful in the way some people envision it to be... shinning it in someone's eyes from afar to inhibit or stun the assailant; but it certainly can be used for other advantageous reasons.

That is why Police patrol cars have bright spot lights mounted to them. That is why Police carry a good flashlight on them. That is why Maxabeam stays in business. That is why military use various quality vehical mounted and weapon (mostly Surefire from what I've seen) lights.

That example is not even relevant. First off, Police and Military are trained for this sort of thing and are looking for it to happen. The situation for the average Joe is not even comparable. Advocating using a flashlight to thwart an attacker could get someone hurt.

 

[sysadmn]

she can try, however, in order to increase probability of success she should throw a flashlight at the attacker or she may knock him w/ this flashlight in a head. Did I mention the flashlight should be heavy ?



Seriously: no.

Maybe if you replaced the tactical switch with a small spike... Of course, if the attacker is close enough for that to do any good, she's already in trouble.

 

[Illum]

Gaffle, some sprays (the bear type) spray a good 30 feet or was it meters? Nontheless its farther than most any flashligh.

watch the wind

 

[ghostguy6]

I've read somewhere, that beyond 60 lumens, a light is considered 'tactical'. That is, that it is considered potent enough to cause temporary blindness to night-adapted vision.

Even 40 lumens is enough to temporaily stun someone. I have used my pelican M6 to stun a drunk during a bar fight. It only bought me a few seconds but it was enough for one of the other doormen to safely put the patron in a head lock. Having said that I would not rely solely on a flashlight to save my life. When we do our training they teach us safety in numbers or get out. the only real advantage I could see using a flashlight on the street would be to give you a second or two to run away unless your carrying a 5D maglite.

 

[woodrow]

If she is using the light outdoors, you might also give her a new pepper defense product from Kimber. I believe it is called Lifeact or something close to it. It holds two barrels of pepper spray and uses a pyrotecnic defice to propell it at an attacker with a lot of force and speed. I think they sell for arround $40. I believe that combined with a led left on the strobe mode (gladius ect) might give a untrained person a decent chance against a larger oponent even in a less than windless night.

here is a link:
http://defendingwomen.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=270

it shows the device and a video...price is $49 from this vendor

 

[2xTrinity]

Its not an LED flash light, but I have seen armed forces use a green lazer emitting device which is aimed at the eyes of an assalent which flashes at a certain frequency causing severe disorientation and blindness to great effect. It certainly seemed to have a very similar effect to pepper spray!!! The bady ends up with zero vision and unable to mobilise! Its not a civilian tool tho.... for now anyway!

I doubt something like this will EVER be legally available to civilians -- such a device that projects a sweeping beam can completely blind people for several minutes, and I imagine the sensory overload from all that light input at once is probably pretty migraine-inducing as well. It's essentially the same effect as the "red spots" you see when flashbulbs go off in a dark room but across the entire field of vision. Meaning if pointed at a road even accidentally one of these could completely blind a driver and cause a fatal accident.