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cxm wrote:IMHO, you were lucky you didn't have a "hot" entry on your hands... the time you took to deploy your weapon, fit the light etc. could have been critical and could have gotten you or your family hurt.

Not trying to be rude in any way, but some refresher training is always good in low light shooting.

Not trying to be rude, but just how long did I take?

The point is about target identification. Take whatever time you need to make sure you don't shoot someone you'll wish you hadn't. Use a light if needed. Use your voice. Just because the hair is standing up on the back of your neck does not mean that you should shoot the first thing you suspect is a bad guy, especially in your own home. Charles' story is a perfect example, both he and his father had every right to think the other person in their house was a bad guy, but thank God that both of them had the discipline to identify their target before they committed the bullet. The world is full of sad stories of people who did not identify their target.

P.S. The light is already afixed to the gun when it goes in the safe. The safe is a push-button code that takes about a second to open and is in the closet next to my side of the bed.

One night I thought I heard the sound our house alarm makes when a door or window opens or closes. I went to the safe and retrieved my glock with attached M3 weapon light and began to look out from my bedroom. I saw what I thought was my 4 year old son standing in the kitchen. I called to him, but he wouldn't answer or move. I removed the light from my pistol and tried calling again. Eventually, I figured out it wasn't my son, but the shadow cast onto the kitchen wall of a plant between me and it.

One lesson I learned is that the lights that go easy-on your pistol can also go easy-off. I've heard people complain about weapon lights because they cause you to cover whatever you want to see with your muzzle. Not exactly true. First, you always have indirect illumination available, then you also can dismount it and use it like a normal flashlight. Regardless of what and how you use it, having a light to identify your target in low light is mandatory unless you're willing to wait and shoot only if it shoots at you first! How many tragic stories contain the phrase "I thought he was a burgler"?

GH