FriendOfTheBlog(tm), Joel over at The Ultimate Answer To Kings, had a bump-in-the-night episode the other evening. If you haven’t read Joels blog, the TL;DR background is that he’s a one-legged older gentleman who lives by himself in a small cabin in the desert. Lotsa empty lonely space and police response time is measured with a calendar. A prudent man, he carries a pistol when he’s out roaming his desert home. But, one night, some noises called for an investigation and the tool of choice for the job was a light-equipped carbine. You can go read the post and see what the situtaion was, but what’s important to takeaway from the episode is that you never know if That Scary Moment is going to happen in the light or in the dark.
All of my ‘just in case’ guns stashed around the house are equipped with blindingly bright lights. Additionally, sometimes you’d prefer not to light things up by pointing a loaded rifle at them…so a handheld flashlight is in order.
I’ve long believed that the most odds-on likely scenario for needing a ‘house gun’ would occur at night. Probably the middle of the night. When it’s dark. (Although fate has a way of beating the odds.) What do I keep handy for those bumps in the night? Well, there’s an AR with a Surefire light, an 870 with a Surefire forend, and my trusty nightstand gun…a Glock 19 with an Olight Valkyrie PL Pro (I love that light), Trijicon HD sights, and a whole buncha Gold Dots. The pistol, my flashlight, and an extra pair of glasses, all sit on this wonderful glow-in-the-dark tray so I can find them instantly at night.
If I hear something go wonky, like Joel did, my first response, after determining what the threat is, is to buzz the fuzz and watch my tax dollars at work. I will, of course, be watching from a safe vantage point with some boomtoy in my grasp…because you never know what will happen.
In Joel’s case, living in BFE, alone, there’s certainly a reasonable sense of caution when it comes to stranger danger. Someday I’ll have my nice little quiet chunk of Montna with my tastefull, yet tactically appointed cabin. And you can be utterly certain it will have a ‘ready rack’ by the door. (As well as several warning systems and countermeasure systems.)
Anyway, I bring up Joel’s experience as a shining example (seewhat I did there?) of the utility and necessity of having lights on your ‘bump in the night’ stuff.
Lights are necessary because bad things happen at night
Terry:
Yes and no…
You should have lights fitted but switched off until activated by a COMPETENT motion activation system.
This saves power and might make the “Guest” attempting access reconsider their actions before things go downhill.
Ceejay
You can’t shoot what you can’t see, unless you use the spray and pray method and get lucky. Target ID is important as well and don’t want to go to prison for shooting someone or something that should not have been shot, i.e. drunken frat boy at the wrong address. Not a fan of weapon mounted lights so there are an embarrassingly high number of flashlights scattered all about, hanging by every door and in common areas.
Just the other night heard a commotion at 2am near the front door, so I jumped up with the P90 and flashlight from the nightstand. Turned out to be a heard of javelinas knocking over potted plants to eat the roots, again.
The tray…what a great idea for older eyes at night!
I believe UVPaq-Lite also have a similar glow in the dark panel to illuminate without requiring electricity. When I lived by myself in an upstairs apartment, i placed my .357 revolver on a paper towel on the night table. I just needed to see a spot where the handgun lay. This panel would have been nice to have back then.
That same revolver had a synthetic barrel mounted Maglite flashlight mount with corded pressure pad mounted on bottom of pistol butt. Pressure from the offhand pinky finger activated the light. A bit clunky it was, but it functioned.
I also like the tray idea. I’ve used a piece of printer paper in the pistol safe for years a similar help.
Steelheart
Email me.
A night-eyes safe light may be a wise additiion. Daddy taught me to close my dominant eye in darktime sports when illumination was imminent or likely. Nevertheless, a red, green or blue lens can be useful, as long as one tests them with the items and surroundings one expects to use. It takes about twenty minutes to develop useful dark vision, hours for full effect, and one flash of white can destroy it. A clever and sneaky person could come up with some powerful force multipliers or even game changers, playing with light, or sound, or heat….or lack thereof…..