The vast majority of potential threats that we perceive turn out to be no threat at all. So how do we determine of it is a threat or not? Well, since most situations occur under poor light conditions it might be a good idea to light it up for a closer look. One solution that has become popular is to attach tactical lights to the firearm.
The problem with that is that we have now pointed a loaded gun at a person who is probably not a threat at all. More importantly, we are only a trigger press away from a really bad situation. Yes, I know that you don’t have to point the light directly at the person in order to check them out. The problem is that that is a pretty fine distinction; a loaded gun has been pointed in their general direction. It is, first and foremost, a safety issue.
A weapons-mounted-light is never a light; it is a loaded gun. While some might say that they would never endanger anyone by such actions, I have seen trained police officers violate this safety issue, holding their gun and using the light to conduct searches. A recent video on the internet showed a police officer searching a house and shooting a full-length mirror when she saw her reflection holding a gun.
So one solution that is often suggested is to simply have two lights, one on the gun and one hand held. The problem that I see with that is that now the person has to make a decision about which light to use in which situation. Decisions take time at a moment in which time may be a very critical factor.
Also, when encountering a potential threat we may really not be justified in drawing a gun at all. We should certainly be ready to make the pistol presentation but drawing on a person who turns out to not be any kind of threat may be a big mistake. Instead, it might be much wiser and certainly safer to have our hand on our gun, ready to draw, while we light the individual up with a hand-held light. The honest citizen that you light up will probably appreciate it a great deal.
Any defensive handgun school worth the name can teach students several methods for using a hand-held light in conjunction with their firearm, should it be necessary to shoot. And it is a far safer method than using a weapons-mounted-light to see what is going on around you.
Safety, we should all preach it.