News You Can Use: How to Properly Use Weapon-Mounted Lights

Via Shooting Illustrated:

Back when I had a serious job, seeing targets in any lighting condition was critical to having a good day. While thermal and night-vision optics took care of the job outdoors, dealing with indoor threats was normally best handled with white light. Of all the items attached to my Army-issued guns, weaponlights were the most important. I could make do without just about any other accessory in the close-range situations I often faced, but an inability to identify and discriminate between good and bad targets simply meant failure.

An unfortunate byproduct of the times is that today’s home-defense firearm needs are not too dissimilar from those of our troops. Identifying all manner of hazards—from home intruders to predators snacking on family pets—is an ever-present reality in our world. Tritium night sights are great for aiding sight alignment in the dark, but you have to find and identify your target first; glowing sights will not help you do that. Assuming you have not lost power, turning on the house lights will help you, but they will also help an intruder. Holding a flashlight by hand alongside a firearm will work in a pinch, but it commits your support hand to a different job. By contrast, the weaponlight allows normal use of both hands and can decidedly tip the scales in your favor when the chips are down.

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