Laser for home defense - pros/cons?

[stewartg]

I do see that there is an active laser thread, but I had a very specific laser question. I'm new, and I hope its okay to post this as a new thread...

I took my wife to the shooting range and taught her the basics of shooting so that she would feel comfortable using our weapon for home defense if I was not at home. She is willing to go to the shooting range several times a year so that she stays comfortable with shooting, but she is not going to take any tactical shooting classes or anything.

She was asking me if we should install one of the grip mounted lasers on the pistol. Since she is relatively inexperienced, if something happens she will be nervous, and the laser will be triggered by her grip the minute she picks up the weapon (and stay on). I am aware of the advantages of the laser (easy aiming, good for low light, aiming without needing the gun in front of your face, etc.), but I am concerned that in a low light situation, with the laser on the whole time, that the liability of her being able to be spotted by an armed intruder will outweigh the benefit of the laser sights. Any thoughts on this? Assume the primary use is for home defense, and presumably, will therefore most likely be used after sunset.

Thanks for your replies!

StewartG

[SiKSpeed]

Here goes and the flames are coming for sure.....

With out debating the use of a laser sight on a defense gun, I think the issue of being spotted by an intruder is one that is easily solved with tactics.

First and foremost in my book; if it is just you and the wife, no children, the scenario just became infinitely more manageable, she secures your weapon of choice along with the cell phone kept near it. Then IMMEDIATELY dials 911 while firmly planting her buttocks in the nearest corner and does not move from it until instructed to!!!

At this point the outward visibility of the laser is pretty much negated by simply keeping the firearm pointed in a downward direction a few feet in front of her.

There will be many here that do not agree with my sit and wait approach but it is the one that works best for me and mine. I have been lucky enough to walk through the same scenarios with my wife on numerous occasions with great success. Even with knowing the lay out of my own home intimately, in a dimly lit environment, her sitting low in a corner, she sees me before I see her EVERY time.


My $.02.....and ONLY my $.02

[Erich]

With the Crimson Trace lasergrips, the laser is not constantly on (it is not "triggered the moment she picks up the weapon" unless she wants it to be triggered) . . . it requires a certain grip pressure to activate it. A novice can determine how much pressure is required and figure out how to turn the beam on and off through grip pressure after holding the laser-gripped pistol for five seconds, so your wife should be easily trainable to not activate the laser until she's ready. Even if your wife were to wait with the pistol at the ready, the laser would not illuminate until she wanted it to do so. I would expect that this would be once a target showed itself.

Since a bullet is likely to follow within less than a second of activation of the laser, I don't really see any problem with her getting the target's attention with the laser.

Of greater concern is that she might rely on the laser to allow herself to fire accurately at a target that she may not have properly identified. If you're willing to live with that chance (since you're the most likely target she would misidentify), hey, go for the CT grips.

[stewartg]

Gentlemen -

Thank you both for the replies! Please allow me to make the following comments:

SikSpeed: The reason my wife is interested in learning the basics of using a gun for home defense is for the SOLE reason that we have two young children in the house. If she hears an intruder, she WILL go looking for him/her and will most likely be pretty agressive in keeping them away from her kids... She WILL NOT be thinking clearly enough to worry about tactics (not that she would know anything about tatical shooting anyway). Sitting in the closet with the phone would be PERFECT if it was just her, but its not...

Erich: I have used the crimson trace, and understand your point about pressure activation. I think (???) I would have enough composure to control the laser activation under extreme pressure. I'm not sure that my wife would. My thinking is that there would be a VERY good chance that she would not be thinking "tactically" if someone broke in, and would just be squeezing that grip for dear life.

For that reason, lets assume the worst - that the laser sight is activated and on from the minute she pulls the gun out of the safe - will the sight being on be too much of a liability as far as allowing an intruder to see her before she sees them?

Thanks again for all opinions and help!

Stewart

[Erich]

Your call.

[MrMurphy]

Tell her to go to the kids and protect them. A single person clearing a house, even well trained, is asking for trouble. A housewife who barely knows how to shoot doing it is suicide. Grab kids, grab gun, grab cellphone, call 911, hole up and shoot anyone coming through the door.


I "AM" trained and had to clear a house in the dark without a light, nothing but a 649 and two speed strips. I nearly crapped myself and sweated off five pounds, and I was protecting a young lady and her son. False alarm. Didn't matter.

As to Lasergrips, I was in a Simunition exercise and the opponent had his gun in his pocket,and I knew it. He cleared the pocket and shot me in the left nipple as soon as it cleared the pocket thanks to the laser (he was sitting, I was standing with my hand nearly on my gun). Action beats reaction every time. He had a J-frame with Crimson Trace Lasergrip.

[Stopdropnroll]

If this is on a small J-frame pistol...

If the shooter has or is reasonably expected to have a "death grip" on the gun...and using the pressure grip switch is not practical, A tactic which can be easily taught or is likely already in place is placing the trigger finger straight out along the body of the gun... the trigger finger is now blocking the laser, hiding it from the "bad guy"...only when the finger is moving down into the trigger guard...will the laser be able to emit it beam....

food for thought..

SDnR ;)

[stewartg]

That's a great idea! Thanks! I have been drilling into her from the minute we started to shoot that you NEVER put your finger into the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot.

[GaG23]

stewartg,

My .02 worth...

Your quotes...

"She is willing to go to the shooting range several times a year so that she stays comfortable with shooting, but she is not going to take any tactical shooting classes or anything"

"If she hears an intruder, she WILL go looking for him/her and will most likely be pretty agressive in keeping them away from her kids... She WILL NOT be thinking clearly enough to worry about tactics (not that she would know anything about tatical shooting anyway)"

No offense intended, but I think you have a much bigger problem than deciding whether or not to buy a laser. If my wife had that type of mindset (unwilling to take classes, agressively searching for the intruder, not thinking clearly under stress) I would not have a gun within 50 ft of my house, much less in her hands!

Don't get me wrong - I am sure your wife is quite capable of doing a very good job of protecting herself and the children WITH PROPER PREPERATION, but without it there is a very real chance she may end up putting that little red dot on you, the dog or one of the children and pulling the trigger.

Just think about the incredible number of life and death, split second decisions (and ALL decisions become "life and death" as soon as you pick up a loaded pistol) you have to make trying to clear a house (reference MrMurphy above). Now add to that the disorientation and stress of the situation and I think you will understand what I mean.

If you want to get just a hint of it, pick some night when she and the kids are gone, unload your pistol, turn off all the lights in you house and do a realistic "clear" exercise yourself. If you really want to make it interesting, substitute a pistol-shaped piece of wood for the real thing and get a neighbor or buddy to play the intruder. If your heart rate doesn't go up 50%, you ain't doin' it right, and you KNOW there is no real danger. Another thing I think you will learn from this exercise is that illumination (a good tac light) is significantly more important than a laser.

IMHO, the bottom line here is that she needs to:
- take some classes to learn proper gun handling basics
- go to the range at least once a month and practice until shooting COM gets boring
- develop AND PRACTICE as conservative a plan as possible (e.g. the aforementioned MrMurphy's "hole up in the kid's room" above)
- adopt a defensive rather than offensive mindset when it come to home defense

As I said just my .02 worth...

Cheers,

[SiKSpeed]

Originally posted by GaG23
stewartg,

My .02 worth...

Your quotes...

"She is willing to go to the shooting range several times a year so that she stays comfortable with shooting, but she is not going to take any tactical shooting classes or anything"

"If she hears an intruder, she WILL go looking for him/her and will most likely be pretty agressive in keeping them away from her kids... She WILL NOT be thinking clearly enough to worry about tactics (not that she would know anything about tatical shooting anyway)"

No offense intended, but I think you have a much bigger problem than deciding whether or not to buy a laser. If my wife had that type of mindset (unwilling to take classes, agressively searching for the intruder, not thinking clearly under stress) I would not have a gun within 50 ft of my house, much less in her hands!

Don't get me wrong - I am sure your wife is quite capable of doing a very good job of protecting herself and the children WITH PROPER PREPERATION, but without it there is a very real chance she may end up putting that little red dot on you, the dog or one of the children and pulling the trigger.

Just think about the incredible number of life and death, split second decisions (and ALL decisions become "life and death" as soon as you pick up a loaded pistol) you have to make trying to clear a house (reference MrMurphy above). Now add to that the disorientation and stress of the situation and I think you will understand what I mean.

If you want to get just a hint of it, pick some night when she and the kids are gone, unload your pistol, turn off all the lights in you house and do a realistic "clear" exercise yourself. If you really want to make it interesting, substitute a pistol-shaped piece of wood for the real thing and get a neighbor or buddy to play the intruder. If your heart rate doesn't go up 50%, you ain't doin' it right, and you KNOW there is no real danger. Another thing I think you will learn from this exercise is that illumination (a good tac light) is significantly more important than a laser.

IMHO, the bottom line here is that she needs to:
- take some classes to learn proper gun handling basics
- go to the range at least once a month and practice until shooting COM gets boring
- develop AND PRACTICE as conservative a plan as possible (e.g. the aforementioned MrMurphy's "hole up in the kid's room" above)
- adopt a defensive rather than offensive mindset when it come to home defense

As I said just my .02 worth...

Cheers,

I have been trying to find a tactfull way to say "well then maybe you should rethink giving her a gun then" but couldnt figure it out....now I don't have to......GaG23 hit the nail right on the head.

[Chongster7]

when the intruder see's the my laser, it means its over from because that means its pointed right at him