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CLOSE-UP CONFRONTATIONS LOW-LIGHT ENVIRONMENT WINNING THE “LYING GAME” TACTICS ANDPREPAREDNESS SKILLS AND SURVIVAL FOR ALL SITUATIONS FEBRUARY 2014 ISSUE 4 The Surefire X400 Ultra produces a brilliant 500 lumens and includes a laser. THE PHOTO ©SUREFIRE BY: DR. LEONARD M. BREURE, Ph.D. As a police officer in the 1980s I carried a large, heavy, not very OFbright flashlight. POWERHandheldhe Kel-Lite and VersusStreamlight of Weaponsthe day weapons Mounted mounted lights. TheLights: list of manufac- were the only choices back then. They turers and models seems to grow every day. TChoosingwere OK for basic the illumination, right but toolswere In additionfor the to choosing job! a light, users have a PHOTO ©SUREFIRE extremely awkward to shoot with. Searching number of techniques to select from in how an area while trying to manage a flashlight to use their light. Hand held or Weapons Mounted light? The and a firearm at the same time was an even greater challenge. TACTICAL LIGHT BASICS answer is that you need BOTH. In fact, it is Things have changed considerably since SureFire is probably the number one manu- highly recommended that you carry a primary then. Today there is a plethora of small, bright, facturer of tactical lights. In their video, “The and a secondary hand held light in addition tactical lights on the market. Choices include Power of Light” they list three requirements to the lights on your handgun and long gun. incandescent and LED versions, handheld and for a tactical light that ap- continued on next page Above: Surefire E2D LED Defender Ultra. LIGHT TACTICS ANDPREPAREDNESS CONTENTS 01 THE POWER OF LIGHT: HANDHELD VS. WEAPON-MOUNTED LIGHTS BY DR. LEONARD M. BREURE, Ph.D. 05 WINNING AT THE “LYING GAME”: LIARS AND LIES CAN BE DANGEROUS 08 DOES YOUR BREAKFAST MAKE YOU “BULLELTPROOF?” PHOTO ©SUREFIRE BY “OX” Surefire ultra-high two-output-mode LED WeaponLight for 10 CONSiderationS FOR YOUR SUrvival IN THE LOW-LIGHT Remington 870. ENVIRONMENT ply to both hand held and weapons mounted Some have worked great, others have been BY edward M. SANTOS lights: junk. One light that I mounted on a student’s 1. High Output Beam Glock broke after he fired only a few rounds. 13 DEALING WITH CLOSE UP 2. Reliable High Energy Power No, it wasn’t made by one of the major manu- CONFRONTATIONS 3. Tactically Correct Switching facturers. Like everything else, you get what you pay for! 16 LEADERSHIP DEFINED The industry standard used to be that a tacti- BY COL. S. RANDY WATT cal light should produce at least 60 lumens. WEAPONS MOUNTED LIGHTS That has progressed over the years to 80, Operators have been mounting all sorts of then 100 and now there are single battery, lights to their weapons for ages. However, OUR LAWYERS INSIST WE MAKE THE FOLLOWING DIS- compact LED 200 lumen flashlights. Lumen is not since LAPD SWAT got together with Sure- CLAIMER: You may die in an emergency, even if you fol- short for luminous flux. A lumen is a unit of Fire prior to the 1984 Olympics did we really low this training to the letter. You might get hurt doing measure used to measure the total output of have a workable solution. Things have come some of the exercises suggested, hurt someone else, or a light source. The older candlepower ratings a long way since 1984 and today’s weapons be subject to civil or criminal liability if you do anything measured only a single spot of light, usually mounted lights are nothing short of awesome. mentioned in this newsletter. Verify that the actions men- just the hottest spot in the beam. Just ask any of our service members clearing a tioned are legal where you are before even considering Most tactical lights are powered by long house in Iraq or a cave in Afghanistan. them. This is presented as a tool to help increase your chance of surviving natural and manmade disasters. lasting CR123 Lithium Ion batteries. They pro- While we guarantee your satisfaction with the informa- vide the reliable high energy power source. HAND HELD VERSUS GUN MOUNTED tion, we can not guarantee your survival or well-being. Lithium batteries have many advantages over As holsters for handguns with lights attached The author provides information about his experiences alkaline batteries, including longer shelf life are becoming more available, more and more and preparations and gives general information. He is (15 years), higher power density, higher unit professionals are opting for a gun mounted not an accountant, doctor, investment advisor or attorney voltage, lighter weight, better cold-weather light. While a great aid to shooting in the dark, and is not in the business of advising individuals on their performance and superior voltage mainte- a gun mounted light comes with some seri- specific situation. If you need specific professional assis- nance. ous liability issues as well. What’s the liability tance, please contact a local professional. The older, click on side-mounted switching issue? Imagine hearing a bump in the night of the standard police lights was awkward and grabbing your trusty defensive firearm ©COPYRIGHT 2014 TACTICS AND PREPAREDNESS. ALL RIGHTS at best and nearly impossible to manage un- (regardless of whether it’s a pistol, rifle or RESERVED. THIS PUBLICATION CONTAINS MATERIAL PROTECTED UNDER INTERNATIONAL AND FEDERAL COPYRIGHT LAWS AND der stress in the dark. Today’s momentary tail shotgun) with a light attached (and no other TREATIES. ANY UNAUTHORIZED REPRINT OR USE OF THIS cap or remote switches do a far better job of light source) and going to investigate. MATERIAL IS PROHIBITED. NO PART OF THIS PUBLICATION MAY BE meeting an operator’s needs. As you’re going around the house, pointing REPRODUCED OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY MEANS, your light (and the attached firearm) at all the ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING, OR BY ANY INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL HAND HELD CHOICES nooks and crannies, what if you find that the SYSTEM WITHOUT EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM THE Over the years I’ve collected quite a few tac- noise was caused by a child, pet or relative? AUTHOR / PUBLISHER. tical lights. My wife has shoes, I have lights! If your weapon-mounted light is your only 2 www.tacticsandpreparedness.com TACTICS & PREPAREDNESS FEBRUARY 2014 THE POWER OF LIGHT light source, you had to point your weapon at one using a long gun for them to identify them. “social” purposes owes Even if the noise was caused by some ran- it to themselves to have dom event, do you think you’d be able to clear a good light mounted your house in the dark with a weapon-mount- on that firearm in ad- dition to their hand If you haven’t experienced the held light. All my tacti- cal shotguns and black effects of being in a darkened rifles have dedicated PHOTO ©STREAMLIGHT lights on them. We all room and then having have a moral, ethical and legal requirement someone illuminate you with to positively identify a high intensity flashlight, you our target before pull- ing the trigger and not really need to. The effect is to endanger innocent people in our environ- totally disorienting. ment in the process. John Meyer of ed light without aiming it at something in the TeamOne Network puts same room or on the other side of a wall that it well, “The gun mounted light enhances an The 160 lumen Streamlight Nightfighter has you aren’t willing to destroy? Of course not! officer’s ability to identify and engage a tar- That’s why a combination of hand-held and get if the officer has justification / reason to a unique adjustable ring to fit any hand. weapon-mounted lights is the ideal. have their gun drawn in the first place. A gun It is next to impossible to manage a hand mounted light is not an illumination tool; con- cers draw their gun to use the light attached held light and accurately maneuver and en- sider it to be part of the weapons system.” I to it when it was totally inappropriate to have gage with a long gun at the same time. Any- don’t know how many times I’ve seen offi- their gun out. This brings me to the answer to the ques- tion: Hand held or Weapons Mounted light? The answer is that you need both. If fact, it is highly recommended that you carry a pri- BY: DR. LEONARD M. BREURE, Ph.D. mary and a secondary hand held light in ad- ery few people or organizations have teach seven different techniques for the dition to the lights on your handgun and long Vdone as much studying of the dynamics use of a hand held light. I have the stu- gun. I’m a firm believer in the two-is-one and of low light shooting as the SureFire Insti- dents practice all of them with the lights one-is-none theory. tute. They have come up with seven prin- on. After they have had an opportunity So, how does all of this shake out? For me, Principles thatCi PLapplyes to andlow light Te engagements:CHniquesto for see what LoW works Lig forHT them, sH weoo turnTing out when I’m working, it goes like this: I normal- 1. Read the Light the lights. It’s usually eye-opening when ly dress in civilian clothes with my primary 2. Move to the lowest level of light what a student thought might work well sidearm, a Springfield Armory MC Operator 3. Avoid or control backlighting turns out to be unmanageable.

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