Weapon light vs. handheld flashlight (Split thread)

[FerretLE426]

I am not a fan of tactical lights on my pistol. So sir dont like it all . :nono:

[Feet]

I never used one personally. On nights I liked having my big honking flashlight in support hand and duty gun in my strong hand.

I never had a problem but whatever flips your skirt I guess.

[CAL]

My thought was that having a light on your weapon would leave your support hand free for other things. No good?

[Feet]

Some guys like it but when you do searches you have that light on your gun and your pistol points wherever the light does.
If you have never been "surprised" in a search by a cat or critter etc then you have not searched enough. I do not like pointing my pistol at anything I do not want to destroy.
It is not a deal breaker with me but I never had an issue with using my big light. I am a good shot and I feel comfortable with firing my strong hand only.
Maybe some guys who love the lights can offer up some positives but I never needed to use it.

[Shadowcop92]

Some agencies here have their K9 guys do the tactical light thing, but as far as patrol or traffic, no go because if light is on weapon then when you light up a perp your weapon is pointed at them and hello complaint especially if they are being compliant(used a big word) So I only have it attached when I am on a raid. I too am confident in my strong hand firing abilities.

[CAL]

Some agencies here have their K9 guys do the tactical light thing, but as far as patrol or traffic, no go because if light is on weapon then when you light up a perp your weapon is pointed at them and hello complaint especially if they are being compliant(used a big word) So I only have it attached when I am on a raid. I too am confident in my strong hand firing abilities.
Good point, I never thought about that.

[FerretLE426]

Go shooting at night and put a flashlight on your target. Take a look where your shot placement is........

I did this and will not use a light on my gun.

[Broke Hoss]

I use a weapon mounted light (Blackhawk) and love it! I work straight mids and it is always mounted on my pistol. But wouldn't take it off if I switched shifts.


This is pretty much the idea. I don't use the weapon light unless it is a situation where having the weapon drawn is authorized. I have other flashlights for more routine situations & still train to draw/fire with them in my hand. Our RO even requires some strings of qualification be fired using handheld lights & no mounted lights. I can also use the peripherial light to shine on someone/thing if I don't feel the need for my weapon to be directly pointed at them/it. But as noted, if I'm using my weapon light I'm expecting to have to use my weapon.

If you have never been "surprised" in a search by a cat or critter etc then you have not searched enough
And if you fired at them out of surprise rather than to stop thier deadly assault, you didn't have your finger indexed along the side of your gun. A bad thing & you likely would've shot them even if you'd been using a handheld light.

Nope, I wouldn't trade mine. Got 1 on my Glock, 1 on my 870 & they're required on the foregrip of our patrol rifles. Of course I would trade for my tritium sights or my other 2 flashlights I carry either. All have thier purpose.

[Feet]

This is pretty much the idea. I don't use the weapon light unless it is a situation where having the weapon drawn is authorized. I have other flashlights for more routine situations & still train to draw/fire with them in my hand. Our RO even requires some strings of qualification be fired using handheld lights & no mounted lights. I can also use the peripherial light to shine on someone/thing if I don't feel the need for my weapon to be directly pointed at them/it. But as noted, if I'm using my weapon light I'm expecting to have to use my weapon.


And if you fired at them out of surprise rather than to stop thier deadly assault, you didn't have your finger indexed along the side of your gun. A bad thing & you likely would've shot them even if you'd been using a handheld light.

Nope, I wouldn't trade mine. Got 1 on my Glock, 1 on my 870 & they're required on the foregrip of our patrol rifles. Of course I would trade for my tritium sights or my other 2 flashlights I carry either. All have thier purpose





Oh as a side note like Shadow said above, ours is considered use of force when we POINT our duty weapon at anybody. So if I point my weapon/light it is a use of force. Also, we are ''flagged" for too many use of force incidents within a 1 year time frame. "Oh but that does not count, you are just illuminating your target and your light happens to be strapped to your gun". I say thee nay, our dept does not care.:thdn:

I am all for those who want to point their pistol at everybody, I am just not one of those. Keep on keeping on.

[Broke Hoss]

FEET, sorry I can't look at your profile yet to see your agency.
IMO your agency's policy is lacking & not conducive to officer safety. Or I'm misunderstanding, which wouldn't be unheard of either; just ask my wife.

It is not wise to just go around pointing a loaded gun at persons willie-nillie. Nor is it prudent to wait until a threat level actually justifys deadly force before aiming at a potental threat.

Yes, producing your weapon is force, & is pretty high on the force continuim. And should be justified. But using an aimed weapon & verbal commands is appropriate for several fairly common tasks we encounter.

Perhaps I'm picturing a wrong scenerio; help me out. I'm imagining like an Armed Subj call (gun,knife or club) I'm approaching anyone with my gun on them until determined not to be a threat. Building search after alarm.....I search with my gun/light and anyone encountered again gets to see the muzzle until proned out & I'm confident they're not a threat...

I aint trying to be hostile, just trying to understand your agency's force policy. The number ! thing for all of us should be to stay safe & come home in 1 piece.

[Shadowcop92]

I think we are talking about traffic stops and encounters with motorists on the road or just calls for service at night that are stranded and no threat is there. Yes I know things can go south in a hurry but that is not the norm.

Hope this makes sense

[Broke Hoss]

Well If someone is using a weapon light for thier primary light source, especially on lower risk stops or calls they ARE misusing force & should suffer the consequences. It should be used not as a light with a weapon attached, but as a weapon with a light attached.

And either (weaponmounted or handheld) requires training and practice.

[DD78]

Well If someone is using a weapon light for thier primary light source, especially on lower risk stops or calls they ARE misusing force & should suffer the consequences. It should be used not as a light with a weapon attached, but as a weapon with a light attached.

And either (weaponmounted or handheld) requires training and practice.

The only thing that keeps my department from using a weapon mounted light is the lack of proper department approved holsters that support holstering with a light attached.

BTW, if anyone comes across a Level III flat black leather holster that supports a weapon light for a Sig P229, post a link.

Even with a weapon light every officer should have an independent flashlight. As was said, a weapon light is not a primary light, it is a tool. Your taser is equipped with a light. You don't use that to illuminate a car interior on every stop, do you? Many cops carry a Tiger Light but they don't spray every person they illuminate with it, do they?

When I do a building search or any gun/light work my muzzle, light, and head & eyes are married to one another. Where the eyes go the gun goes the light goes. It's an old Army habit. If that gun is up and on a target there's a reason.

Having the light on the gun simply eliminates a step when needed and would allow me to take a more stable, two handed laser guided shot if necessary.

If I light up a person with a gun light and determine them to not be a threat in the course of my action I can certainly transition to a standard light.

I like gun lights, pure and simple.

[Feet]

FEET, sorry I can't look at your profile yet to see your agency.
IMO your agency's policy is lacking & not conducive to officer safety. Or I'm misunderstanding, which wouldn't be unheard of either; just ask my wife.

It is not wise to just go around pointing a loaded gun at persons willie-nillie. Nor is it prudent to wait until a threat level actually justifys deadly force before aiming at a potental threat.

Yes, producing your weapon is force, & is pretty high on the force continuim. And should be justified. But using an aimed weapon & verbal commands is appropriate for several fairly common tasks we encounter.

Perhaps I'm picturing a wrong scenerio; help me out. I'm imagining like an Armed Subj call (gun,knife or club) I'm approaching anyone with my gun on them until determined not to be a threat. Building search after alarm.....I search with my gun/light and anyone encountered again gets to see the muzzle until proned out & I'm confident they're not a threat...

I aint trying to be hostile, just trying to understand your agency's force policy. The number ! thing for all of us should be to stay safe & come home in 1 piece.

Well good luck trying to understand my agency's force policy. We did not write it, politicians did.:shiner:

My dept does not limit nor encourage us to use weapons mounted lights. It gives us lots of leeway on our weapons systems. We are required to have tritium sights on all duty weapons so I have tritium on everything I carry on my body.
I have not felt the need to have a weapons mounted light so I do not carry one. I do all patrol work with very little dynamic entry stuff which is very good for using a weapons mounted light.
I guess it is just different schools of thought.:dunno:

[Broke Hoss]

I guess it is just different schools of thought.:dunno:

This I agree with. I wasn't trying to convert ya.

[CAL]

I added a poll to this thread - I'd like to revisit the topic.

[AggiePhil]

Broke Hoss already dispelled most of the myths I've heard for not using weaponlights. In short though, you don't carry a weaponlight as your primary flashlight. You MUST carry AT LEAST one other flashlight ON YOUR PERSON when using a weaponlight. If an officer is unable to make the conscious decision to deploy a standard flashlight to illuminate a non-threat (and instead whips his pistol out), there are bigger problems at hand and that officer should not be trusted to drive a marked patrol car, much less carry a gun. We're not really even talking about a higher level of thinking here...it's pretty simple. If you need to draw your gun, you more than likely won't need to ALSO draw a separate flashlight, thanks to the weaponlight. If you need to draw just a flashlight, you still have that on your belt too.

One of the only valid problems I've encountered with weaponlight use is holster availability. Carrying your weaponlight off the gun and then mounting/dismounting it by hand should absolutely NOT be done. For one, you won't be able to do either action well under stress. Second, you need to be able to reholster that gun FAST, just as-is (need to go hands on, transition to another weapon system, render aid, etc.). Having to dick with the weaponlight before holstering is a deal killer.

This then necessitates a holster that will hold a pistol with weaponlight attached. There are numerous holsters available that meet this criteria now (it used to be harder), but some departments are still ate with dictating which brand and model of holster its officers carry their lifesaving tools in. For that reason, I currently don't use a weaponlight. If you aren't going to let me carry the proper holster, I guess I'm not gonna be able to use one at all. Sad, but that's how it is.

For those folks who work at an agency that DOES allow you to carry a different holster, there are a lot. The Safariland ALS line is my personal favorite. The Model 6360 has three levels of retention (with an optional additional fourth) and works very well (I've had one since they first came out...just can't/don't use it yet). And to answer a previous poster, they do make a 6360 for the Sig P226 and P220 with weaponlight, but it doesn't show one for the P229. Im not very familiar with Sigs though...perhaps the P226 and P220 are the same size as the P229?

So in case you can't tell, I'm a huge fan of weaponlights and am slowly working to get my agency to allow them. Hell, we still can't have lights on our rifles though. Had to take my $275 Surefire Scout light OFF mine. :jerk:

[Feet]

As an update to this. Though I do not carry a light on my duty weapon, I do have a brand spanking new TLR-1 (S) I put on my bedside gun.
Got it on sale at GT Distributors, about $90 or so OTD!
Fun little light. LED and strobe function.