In 2019 weapon lights are mandatory....convince me otherwise

[JodyH]

Tom Givens has a huge database on civilian defensive handgun shootings and last i heard his take on it was WML's were just not needed at all much less mandatory.
The basic gist of it was criminals need to see you to attack you, hence you can see them as well.

[Texaspoff]

Pedestrian stop on a suspicious subject on a very dark street. No reason yet to have gun in hand. Lit guy up as he approached due to voice commands. A very typical "Hey, I need to talk to you a minute" situation. Bad guy turned out to have just done a robbery, our guy didn't know that. Bad guy pulled as he got close and came at the officer shooting.


Yes, I am saying that using a pistol mounted light to search a building is shitty tactics, even when you have other officers on scene. Handheld lights are a vastly better search tool. I don't care if you shoot better with two hands on the gun. It's not a gunfight yet, because you have no idea where in the fuck the potential bad guy is.

Typical cop "low light" training is range training. This leads to Good Idea Fairy bullshit that doesn't translate into the reality of the bad guy gets a vote in how well our tactics work.

Very Good Point, too many times controlled environment training is touted as the best thing since sliced bread and we should all be doing it.


Hand held light and shooting training is what I conduct with my officers. This type of stop occurs far more than just about anything else. This is also relevant in a traffic stop situation at night. Officer don't typically conduct traffic stops with their pistols pointed at the violator. Handheld lights are used a lot in those capacities. But when the SHTF, it happens quick, and being able to draw and hit a target with one hand must be a tool in our tool box.

I quite often refer to officers and our tactics advising we need to think of ourselves as gunfighters when this situation arises. There is no way to sugarcoat it or make it sound PC for the media or admin. I see my bosses cringe when they have attended training and we have discussions about this, but with a few examples of the old west gunfights, and their similarities with what happens today, they usually ease up.

I lost count of officer I have hit during active shooter training that were using their WML for searching. I have around a 95 percent hit rate shooting at the WML, and sims rounds get that point across very quickly. Since I was on the other end of that at one time, it is a tactic I use to train others and show them how bad it can be. Don't think for a minute that bad guys don't realize this stuff as well and some even admittedly train for this type of encounter, be it with LE or a civilian.

I had an administrator from another agency actually complain because we added a the words tactical reload to our cooperative training. He said it sounded harsh and thought someone would take issue with it, if they saw the curriculum. I explained to him, politely that tactical was a word used to describe so many aspects of training in LE, that he needs to write a letter to our state certification board advising them to stop using the word tactical in state mandated training. This of course is probably why in 25 plus years I have only made it to the rank of Sergeant......a few times....






TXPO