flintknapper wrote:SCone wrote:OK, I'll give everyone the plan.
First, hear the noise. Grab the 45 & the flashlight. With flashlight in left hand, 45 in right, raised and ready, begin slowly searching property in the dark. If BG encountered, hit the "instant-on" button on flashlight while saying, "STOP, I HAVE A GUN!"
The instant the bright light hits the intruder, the decision to fire must be made. Is it a BG and did the BG make a move? Is the BG fleeing or making a move toward me? Or is the BG one of my son's friends raiding the fridge that I had no idea was staying the night?
With the light on, I can tell not only what's about to get shot, I can see what's behind, beside and around what's about to get shot.
Yes, it could get me shot by an intruder. But the only other choice is firing at a shadow.
You don't have to shoot as soon as you make identification (the intruder's body may be largely behind cover or standing in front of a room occupied by another family member), but you do need to move to avoid becoming a target. I like to use about a half second light burst for identification, and then release the switch to turn off the light and move to another position unless I am already behind solid cover and in a good tactical position with a clear and safe field of fire around the intruder.. If the light hit the intruder in the eyes, he will likely experience some impairment of his night vision and will have some trouble seeing me clearly if I am behind cover and in a lower light environment than he is (which is the setup in my plan).
Flint is correct that a large percentage of civilian incidents in the home happen in low light, but standard sights, particularly those with white dots, can be seen well enough to be used up to a point approaching total darkness. This is the point where night sights have a major advantage. They have some advantage even before this point because they can be seen better than white dot sights as the light level decreases, but the difference isn't as dramatic until ambient light is almost gone.
I have small LED night lights placed around my home to provide low level illumination everywhere except my safe room. I don't need either a flashlight or night sights to find, identify and if necessary fire accurately on an intruder in the other areas of my home, but the night sights are still available in case something doesn't go according to plan.
If you decide not to use deadly force right away, appropriate voice commands for confronting an intruder inside the home could be a whole discussion thread in itself. You want to make sure that you get him either moving out the door (usually the safest option) or, if you're adventurous enough to try holding him at gunpoint until police arrive, positioned so he's looking away from you, on the ground, with his arms straight out at his sides, palms up and feet crossed at the ankles right away. This makes it much more difficult to initiate a successful surprise attack, even if he's armed, but even if he appears to comply initially it's still a real dicey situation. He'll be reviewing his options the whole time you're waiting for police, and he may decide to complicate things in a major way at any time. If there's more than one intruder, things will get even more interesting.
