…in the Doc Russia Crisis Center:
It’s kinda the same in Kim’s Bunker, except that there’s a flashlight or two next to every “home defense” firearm, i.e. no further than arm’s reach regardless of my location in the house.
I don’t have a flashlight attached to any of my firearms. No big reason; I just don’t see the need to identify my position if I’m about to activate the bang switch. YMMV, and that’s fine — there’s no need for debate on the issue, because I can see both sides of the argument. It’s just a personal preference.
I might change my opinion in the case of the Poodleshooter Piece:
…but I’m still debating the issue with myself. Frankly, I can’t see a situation developing (for me) in which some serious* anti-social night-time activity might become necessary; but I’m not closing my mind to the eventuality, either.
*that can’t be handled by half a dozen or so rounds of .45 ACP or .357 Magnum, I mean.
I find myself in agreement here. Your short AR is a great truck gun or for use if you find yourself in the street defending yourself and others from the mob. Shoot it inside the house and your hearing is permanently gone, most likely.
A magazine of 45 goodness or 357 magnum will take the wind out the sails of anyone unfortunately enough to try to get into your apartment. That would be a supremely bad situation for them.
The light thing, as you say, isn’t worth arguing, it’s a preference item. You have the light, whether it’s on or off the gun doesn’t matter that much, I think. I keep one on The Gauge™ but not on the pistols. Like you, though, I’ve taken to sometimes leaving the Ruger GP100 4” on the nightstand, well. Just because.
Come to think of it, firing that in the bedroom won’t be much better for my hearing than the AR would be. Note to self: Put two sets of earmuffs on the nightstand. Why didn’t I think of that before now??
I prefer a handgun for home defense because i can use it one handed while the other uses a flashlight, calls the police, opens and closes doors, turn on lights, herd people to safety, etc. A rifle or a pistol with a brace is harder to use one handed.
I don’t put lights on guns for several reasons. I might consider it on a carbine though.
Kim, did I miss the page where you allowed a poodle shooter in your house, or am I just being forgetful? Thought you were 100% 7.62 X 39.
I got shamed into getting one by my so-called friends.
https://www.kimdutoit.com/2025/10/07/range-report-one-of-those-mattel-guns-5-56x45mm/
My preference is to use one of the handguns stashed in locked-drawer gun safes around the house, each of which has a 2-D-cell Maglite next to it. I personally don’t believe in sweeping even a potential target with the muzzle of a firearm just to light it up (and yes, I’ve seen all the “instructional videos” on how to use bounce-light off the floor, etc. ad nauseum). I’m not clearing a house in Fallujah for crying out loud.
Unless something really bad occurs during a power outage, or if I’ve got really practiced home invaders that know how to kill the house power at the side of the house without electrocuting themselves, the handiest way to identify something inside the house (maybe after you’ve heard a window break or a door kicked in) is to just TURN ON THE LIGHTS.
If the potential problem is outside the house, then by legal definition we’re no longer in immediate danger of death or grievous bodily injury unless they start shooting through the house or windows at us. At which point the lights on the outside of the house go on to light up any potential targets.
Once a year (when we switch all the clocks in the fall) I go buy another 3 dozen D-cells and replace all of the batteries in the flashlights in the house and in the cars whether they’ve been used or not. At the same time I replace all of the smoke detector batteries (we’ve got six of ’em).
I elected to mount a light on my front line AR. I chose this one, albeit mine is a Gen 2–
https://inforcelights.com/collections/rifle-lights/products/wml-white-gen-3
I have it mounted at about 10:30 for my support hand thumb on a BCM handguard. The light itself mounts with a thumb screw/clamp so can be easily dis-mounted and used as a flashlight. Push button can be set to press-and-hold or click-on, click-off.
When I lived on the border in AZ, my Border Patrol buddy hooked me up with a milspec strobe light (or 4) and clued me in on a brand of glasses (TheraSpec) that minimized the effect of strobe lights. Great for perimeter security. I’ve toyed with the idea of installing them around my house here Inside the Wife (suburban DC), but the Last Wife won’t have it. Real shame because they absolutely discombobulate the bejeesus out of anyone caught in their path. Oh well, the blinding flash, massive ball of flame, thunderous explosion and 158 grains of Hydra-Shok coming at them at 1240 fps will have to do for now.
I have 2 flashlights on the shelf next to the 10mm pistol. One flashlight has a rail mount but I do not care for it on the AR. The 10mm has a red dot on it along with iron sights. Ear pieces are also located there. But I have a generator on an ATS. I will not loose power until I run out of fuel in 8 to 10 days.
“…serious* anti-social night-time activity…”?
I would call it pro-social. Entirely pro-social.
Flash light in had. Off body. Night gun is a 327 with some defensive rounds.
Pretty low crime area right now. That might change in a few years but for now it is fairly quite.
Some rentals in the area and they can change things pretty fast but not of late.