Low light home defense training question

I'm new to this forum and trying to get a few posts under my belt. I would like to hear opinions on using tactical lights for home defense, i.e., handheld versus weapon mounted. I went through some training back in the 1990's with a friend who was getting certified to teach law enforcement classes and at the time he always stressed never use a light if at all possible to keep from giving away your position and drawing fire. The reason I ask is that lots of people are putting lights on their firearms these days and I wonder if it's not overkill or just another toy that marketing firms have pushed to increase sales. Anyway, that's my post. Thanks in advance.

I'm under the impression that the light is more for target identification than anything else. For example, a dark room in your home, and you need to know if the shadowy figure in front of you is a bad guy or a family member. No personal experience in the matter, just what I've read. (or you can do what I do and leave lights on inside during the night so you can see)

My personal thought on the weapon light issue is: I don't want my trigger finger to have to do anything except work the trigger. I don't want any mixup between flipping on the weapon light switch vs. pulling the trigger. Sounds dumb, but it happens. High-stress situations do funny things like that. For example, there was the cop that shot the bad guy by mistake because the cop drew his gun when he meant to draw his taser.

I think they watch to much 007.Enough death with guns without fitting lights

Stress test nailed it... Know your target and what is beyond! I've never been able to justify the expense of a good pistol light but when clearing a home at night I could certainly see some benefits to freeing up your offhand.

Being in LE, I've cleared tons of rooms, buildings, and cars. It is true the light will give your position away.

There are pros and cons of lighting tools. First, you must know the situation you're in and approach tactfully. If you are searching for a suspect barricaded in a home, he/she maintains the position of advantage and adapted vision. It is a crummy feeling entering the fatal funnel and see 7-10 possible positions of cover that they could be hiding behind. I have a surefire x200 mounted on my pistol which provides a perfect bright flood. The beam is so wide if the assailant fired at the light, it would be tough (although not impossible) to accurately hit dead center. It would take a lot of time to explain the techniques of dynamic entires which also aid in clearing the room (button hook, multiple ofcrs, etc).

Lots of bad guys hide under beds, tables, closets, clothing, etc. clearing your home at night, you won't see anything without a light. A lot of people here comment on losing your night adapted vision if you use a light indoors clearing. From my experience, light reflected off walls, tv's, windows, really doesn't take too much away. The thing to be careful of is clearing a bathroom or bedroom with huge mirrors. Don't look too long at them I guess.

I assume the scenario you ask is clearing your home by yourself? Clearing a home solo is an idol (immediate defense of life situation). Active shooters, hostages (family screaming) and such. If you hear a bump in the night, and your home is configured in a way that you can cover a long hallway and have it well lit, then hold your position, perform a call out like "I have a gun and will use it! Get out! The police are on there way!" The ruse is not 100 percent foolproof but has been effective in making intruders run away.

There is one more thing to keep in mind. When we are clearing a home, all forward of ofcr's have lights ON (never backlight anyone on search team). Once we have an area illuminated, we don't want to give up what we can see by switching off light. If the suspect wants to poke the guns out and fire, illumination will aid in the next step. No illumination, you're just asking to be taken out.
There are many more details and tactics to this stuff I could go on for hours. In short, I am all for weapon lights. Affixed lights allow a free hand to open doors, radio/phone (911). If your life depends on light, the cost of a weapon light is invaluable. Hope some of this is helpful.

blackie59 said:

I went through some training back in the 1990's with a friend who was getting certified to teach law enforcement classes and at the time he always stressed never use a light if at all possible to keep from giving away your position and drawing fire.

Click to expand...

You turn on your flashlight to detect, you turn off and change position.

Some good points above.

I'll add the home defense is not the same as LEO use.

At home, you might be alone, and, not REQUIRED to "clear the building", but to DEFEND your space/family.

That's the difference between offense, and defense. An attacker is not going to use the same tactics as a defender.

When LEO have to clear a building, they are the hunters/attackers, SEEKING the intruders.

When an intruder is looking for prey/valuables, he will also have certain priorities/preferred tactics.

When you are defending a space, you do not have to go looking for the intruder, you can, conceptually, stay behind your castle walls, and fire through the crenelations so to speak.


It is less dangerous to be still, and hidden, and have your target wander into your sights, than for you to wander into their sights, etc.

The defender therefore doesn't want a glowing beacon announcing where he is waiting.

The attacker on the other hand, is LOOKING for the one potentially hiding...and can't SEE w/o light (I like infrared for this myself, but, that's just me...).

As the attacker is just wandering around blindly w/o light, he MUST have a way of seeing his prey...as, being the moving object in the room, the attacker is more easily spotted than the ambusher.

If you have to burst into a room that might include those who would shoot at you, etc...you want to see them ASAP...and, you want the option to shoot them first preferably. If they are night adapted and your light is dazzling them, their aim might be terrible, or, they maybe too overwhelmed to react, etc. If all they see is a wee pencil beam of light darting about, they may feel more confident that they will get off a shot before that little patch of light swept across THEM. If they see a "Third Encounters" effect coming, they sense that it will be like the room's lights were switched on, and they will NOT have time to shoot before being spotted, which can intimidate them into submission.


So, ideally, neither side would use light, as it DOES announce their presence...but, the attacker is more constrained by needing it than not using it....and will use it accordingly.

That's one reason you don't want to have one attacker (As an attacking group), as its too easy to pick him off from an ambush position. If 3-4 guys burst in, the ambusher knows he might get some, but, the others probably would be on his position before he could get them all, and, therefore, tend to give up, or, stay hidden, when faced with overwhelming force.

Sooooo, as the home defense business goes....you want to be the ambusher, not the ambushee.

YOU only need to use a light if you want to make sure you're not about to blow the head off your daughter's boy friend who got the bedroom doors confused, etc. Or, you simply don't have enough light to aim. In most homes, you are at such close quarters that aiming per se is not that hard to do as long as you can at least point at the perp.

Momentary on for target ID. If someone is in your home gather your family in one room and defend your position. Don't use your light unless you need to. I always have a secondary light that I can shine (from a secondary, not manned position) on the "fatal funnel" that the intruder has to enter. It will distract them, remove their night sight and not give away my position.

Really appreciate the input. Lots of food for thought.

Turn the house lights on. Creeping around with a flashlight isnt always tactically advantageous.

I thought about this issue, and about our budgetary constraints. I spent the money on a Surefire forend light for my wife's Remington 870 (cost more than the gun) - expensive but bright enough to blind an attacker and very clearly identify the target. My own Winchester 1200 Marine does not (yet) have a light (His and Hers 12 gauges flanking the bed give us a warm fuzzy feeling at night ). We keep 3D LED Maglights (the "handy bludgeon size" ) clipped on the wall next to the bed as well; they are much bigger and easier to find in the dark than our small personal tactical lights.

Of all our handguns, the only one with a rail and light is in the safe. Maybe I should make it a "nightstand" gun, but I'm happy with the quick acquisition sights and familiarity of my personal 1911. Controls are such that you certainly will not confuse switch with trigger on the light-equipped gun. In general, I think a weapon light is a very good idea. But it does NOT replace a separate light. So it's handheld light first, then weapon mounted lights as the budget allows. I'm not going to argue Surefire-Rogers technique vs Harries vs whatever.... Just use what feels right to you.

I sold my one laser-equipped pistol a while back, but wouldn't mind getting a Crimson Trace for my wife's sidearm. But never forget that lasers are great for aiming in low light (lousy in bright light) but they do NOT identify the target - and they can give your location away. There is no substitute for a good light. With other family members in the house, you simply MUST identify your target.

As stated above - you can use your light to look for your target around your house, but you should turn it off and move quickly.

there are a few reasons for weapons lights, for the most part i dont see them as a toy unless the light is really cheap and is on a gun that i wouldnt take seriously for home defense.

I have a pretty bright (540 lumen, iirc:thinking light on a rifle, and a TLR1s on my go-to handgun. Someone mentioned your trigger finger being distracted by the light - the TLR1s has a switch on both sides and i practice using my left thumb to activate the switch (both thumbs pointed forward and on the left side of the gun, so i just flip my thumb down and ive got light, trigger finger can do trigger stuff) For rifles its usually your weak hand that does the light switching so your trigger finger isn't distracted. my rifle light has a tail cap switch for on/off and slight pressure does momentary on, which are really the only settings you would want in a defense weapon light.

as far as uses- my rifle has a really bright light because i needed to light up my yard from time to time. the fence line was anywhere from 20-75 yards away depending on where i was and where i was looking, so in the middle of the night i needed to see if there was a person out there, or a large animal that might want my dogs, or just a deer or w/e. 500 lumens for in home is WAY too much though. if you wake up at 3am and see turn on a 500 lumen light the reflection from your wall will blind you. which is where the more dim, 100-300 lumen lights come in, and why i have one on my handgun.

also, unless you have kids to get to or something, most defense instructors recommend that you stay in one spot (behind the bed, for example) and call 911 and wait for the intruder to come to you. I know many people with kids have a plan to get themselves and their wife to the kids, put the wife and kids in the closet, and then stay behind the bed and watch the door while the wife calls 911. Its a bit dangerous to go around searching if you dont have to.

weapon lighted mounts also give you the advantage of having a gun and light in one hand and nothing in the other, in case you need to use your other hand to hold a phone or a baby or something.

i too am in need of some posts!