I carry a 2x AA light at work. It is a general purpose tool but would is a legitimate defensive tool for my situation. In its normal grip (left hand, bezel extending past pinky), it can be a striking tool. I would use it in the same manner as SN's instruction on reverse grip edged tools that he covers in EWO, ECQC, etc.
I like the 2x battery option for a number of reasons. Output, runtime, and length all lend themselves to a well rounded item worth carrying.
The opinions above are my own and do not represent any current or former employer.
Problem is the light needs to fit the role of the user as well as there handsize the light that would work for tom does me no good or at least enough based on my mittsOriginally Posted by Tom Fineis
I have used a light once or twice as impact item once during a crowd fight and another in a bar it was a SFCE with the old GGG impact device on it
it worked well in flash, blind and bash, with a downward rack from forehead to jaw
the other time it was a straight impact to the face with light on in the eyes as a fist load thumb over the back of button
Id rather use the SF spare battery carrier on a loop of 550 cord as an impact item with some standoff room.....this is a time i keep in my carry on bags for flying
I can tell you for a fact that one does not need one of those pocket eating toothy bezel "combat" lights to put a split in a guy's forehead with a small flashlight when used to add some +P to a hammer fist type strike.
Just an observation.
very true, but chuck they were cool in the early 90s
For daylight hours - I don't use a flashlight as a defensive tool. It could be used as an impact device, but there are better ones out there, and I usually carry something else. For instance, an Epipen in one of its hard plastic storage tubes. It's oval, extends past the fist, fits into the NPE, and is effective. I pounded on a 2x4 with an old one in its oval tube with ten full power hammer strikes and barely scratched the tube. Suffice to say, you could use it as an impact tool. You can also always take it out of the tube and jab it into someone...it's still got a big frickin' needle in it.
Second, the benefit to the flashlight is, as pointed out, the flash and move. It's an eyejab/OODA reset that allows you to strike. An effective replacement for it in the daytime (or nighttime for that matter) is OC. Following Chuck and Claude's advice, I acquired Sabre OC and always carry it. My experience has been OC is easily explained in the NPE. Nobody tends to look twice at a can of pepper spray, for whatever reason that I can't explain. I think it is a socially acceptable defensive tool, where a knife, gun, or even taser isn't. I bet you can find a couple of additional solutions to a sub-optimal flashlight usage. The benefit of a flashlight at night is in managing unknown contacts. It's much easier to light someone up in a parking lot as a way of keeping them away from you. You can't really whip out your can of spray and hose every person down who comes near you (as much as you might want to). So, at night, I tend to keep the flashlight in hand.
Note: I'm not trying to derail your thread. Using a flashlight is one option, but there are many NPE legitimate options out there. I work, practically live, in the NPE, so I've tried a bunch of them, just trying to give you ideas.
As another thought, if you're not actively using a briefcase/messenger bag for your job, get one. You can carry a TON of good stuff in a bag. Stick a tablet or a book and your lunch in there. Maybe a small multi-tool, a spare flashlight, a first aid kit. Sometimes I'm walking to my office and I realize I forgot to take my rock hammer from the office to the house to store it with my field gear (being a paleontologist has perks). So I stick it in my messenger bag and carry it home. You can also move stuff around using a bag for storage during the day. I carry OC and usually an impact tool in my coat/jacket pockets while walking, I store them in my bag at work. As a general social rule (make sure you exploit these), people won't rifle through your bag to see what you're carrying. Make sure you leave the flap closed and you'll have no issues.
-Rob
The upside of a 2-AA light from a lighting perspective is that a typical AA cell has about 3000mAh of capacity, so two of them will keep the torch lit for long time. From a carrying perspective, most 2-AA lights are around 6 inches long, which doesn't make them as "pocketable" as other options.
I agree with Steve that for my hands and preferred method of carry, the 2-AA light is too long. In that regard, a 2-CR123a light is about perfect, leaving enough sticking out from either side of my fist to have some impact as a striking tool yet at under five inches long, still fits in a front pocket reasonably well.
If there's a flashlight in your hand and you have to take of business, that's what you have to do. Otherwise I think flashlights as defensive tools are a bad idea.
Bezel strikes are very good at breaking skin. Most people worth hitting with a flashlight are not the kind of people that you want bleeding on you. Well you probably don't want anyone bleeding on you, but most of the criminal element has blood that could pass as weapons of biological warfare. If you're close enough to hit with a flashlight, you're close enough to get blood sprayed in your eyes, mouth and nose. Winning the fight and contracting Hep C as a consolation prize, isn't much of a win. It's not much worse than hitting someone in the face with a closed fist.
How people appear after a fight can have as much to do with determining "justification" as the circumstances that lead up to the use of force. Bad guy gets OC'd or knocked out from a brachial stun, and worst case you're probably looking at a misdemeanor assault charge. Knock someone's eye out and you may be facing felony charges and prison. Things vary by jurisdiction, but once the threshold of simple assault gets crossed the guys taking the initial report lose a lot of discretion and things get moved into the hands of people that are farther away from the reality of what happened.
There are a lot of different fighting techniques and empty hand strikes out there that brutally effective and carry a much lower risk of exposing yourself to the bad guy's bodily fluids or reduces the risk of leaving horrific looking injuries that may require paying a lawyer a lot of money to explain.
<---Hates smart phones and kids on his lawn.
Right, I wasn't saying an impact light had to be 2x AA, just that I liked the size myself. Obviously your own needs dictate your equipment.
I'm at a bit of an odd zone in regards to self defense at work these days, so the light has been bumped up a few notches on the go-to options.
The opinions above are my own and do not represent any current or former employer.
true, i agree the MINI mags served me well for years and there led model is good i keep them around for a lot of task there cheap when i lose them i don't cry too much
i think finding a happy balance of size and weight and task lighting output is key but the light as a weapon is a very close up and personal id rather have a blade at that distance even a rescue type model
Reply With Quote