Flashlights On Guns?

booger

During my very limited law enforcement training (reserve deputy years ago) the theory at the time was to hold your flashlight away from the body, the theory being that a bad-guy would shoot at the light and miss you. Now flashlights are appearing on shotguns, rifles and handguns which gives a direct line of fire for the bad-guy.

Is the old theory dead or is there some other advantage?

Do any LEO's still hold a flashlight away from the body?

Them ducks is wary.

Xracer

I always held my light "wide to the side"....I figured that the flashlight made a great target.

Nighthawk

I hope I can answer this good question plainly. Flash lights on shotguns is something that your every day road officer is not equiped with. In most cases it is for swat teams (special weapons and tactics) and they are always put at higher risk operations. Yuo would not just turn your flashlight on and break in a door. The lights are desighned to flash,disorient,and threaten your opponent, the element of surprise is what we want on our side. I have seen some officers new in the academy come in with all this high tech mounting equipment on their sidearm and go out and make a traffic stop and not even know to center his hood emblem with the violaters left rear fender,much less not even remember to turn his drivers side front tire all the way to the left to add some additional cover. Our department is still using flashlights as an element of surprise, but always with the weaver stance. At night we use our flood lights to blind the violaters mirrors, so he can not tell which side I might approach on. As of now its still up to the individual officer. And I must admit other than working the interstate, I deal with mostly nice hard working people. However we must remain on our toes. And you will not find a flashlight,laser or anything of the sort on the dust cover of my sidearm.Nor will you find it affixed to my AR15. I know what your talking about, all a Felon would have to do is shoot at the light, and most of them can.There is so much I cant began to share all the techniques with you. But I can recommend Weapons and tactics news letter to any law abiding civilian for self defense. And remember weaver stance left arm holding light over the right or gun hand plus six inch over hang with your flashlight beyond your shoulder.Keep safe.

Rugster

booger

Yeh, lot's of different situations would require a different approach. I now realize I put this topic in the "Experts" forum when I meant to put it in "General", oh well locked up in 7 more replies.

Them ducks is wary.

austin247

Ditto to Xracer's comment. We actually got a teletype a few weeks ago about lights mounted on Glocks and the Glocks subsequently malfunctioning. I don't remember the specifics, since I don't carry a light on my Glock and don't intend to, but that was the jist of the message.

gunphreak

I have a flashlight on my AR-15 for night hunting pesky critters getting into the trash barrel at night. I would use it for searching for animals, or blinding my target criminal. That's it.

Death to Tyrants!!!

-Gunphreak

imadork

not a LEO but I have a tac-star light system with pressure sensitive switch for quick on/off if necessary. I like the idea of having illumination on a shotgun if I need it-- a last second double check of who I'm aiming at, for example. I wouldn't walk around with it on.
http://www.tacstar.com/tacstar/index.htm

seamus

My 2 cents: as a former federal LEO, I believe a white light mounted on a long arm makes sense for one simple reason: it's difficult to impossible to hold a flashlight and fire a rifle or shotgun at the same time. And there are times when a light is needed. The times you would actually use the light may be seldom, and a presure activated switch is a must. As for lights mounted on hand guns, I don't like them for the obvious reason, mentioned above, and because you can always hold a flashlight in your weak hand. I agree with the comments made by Rugster, and have found that the often seen cross-arm technique (holding the flashlight in the weak hand and to the side, while crossing the strong pistol holding arm over the weak arm) is the most steady and accurate. However, target acquisition is rather slow. When practicing pistol night firing range drills, I recall that most of us just held the flashlight far to the side, activating the light only when we thought we heard or saw something (like the mechanical target moving), and then sweeping side to side and firing when your target(s)popped up or turned toward you. As for turning your vehicle's tire to achieve additional cover in a traffic stop, you might consider turning the tire IN, instead of OUT. It provides just as much cover, and if your vehicle is rear ended, it will travel generally away from you if you are standing on the left side of the stopped vehicle. The opposite is true, of course, if you approach from the right side.