That's a very good question, and I agree with both of you, more or less. I would personally never have a laser or a flash light attached to the end of any weapon that I used at night for self-defense. The reason being is 2 fold, A) pardon the expression, but it's a dead giveaway to where you actually are. They don't need to see you just aim at the light and the odds are in their favor that they will get a hit in on you. B) either or both of those items will either outright destroy your night vision or at the least seriously interfere with it, since you will not be able to see outside the cone of the light. There is also been some studies done by both the LEO community and the Military than seems to indicate that a laser does not help you reacquire your target faster. If anything it appears to do the reverse. I can guess that is because folks become dependent on the finding the spot/dot rather than keeping the target itself/themself in sight.
But, that's only MHO and everyone gets to have their own, As for the shot gun. well I have a 12 Gauge Pump but with the shortest legal barrel and overall length that a person can own short of a Tax Stamp. I have a 19 inch and an 18 inch Winchesters. The shorter barrel gives you more control, and allows you to move in narrow places and still fire your weapon.
Now we come to my favorite part, The bedside pistol of choice. For me that is my CZ52 and it's 7.62 x 25 full metal jacket rounds. Nothing says "you got nowhere to hide" than a necked down .30 cal round. And since it's just myself and my wife and we still share the same sleeping arraignments, if I hear something or the alarm I can easily check to see if she's ok and then if so then anything moving in the house other than the cat (and that idiot is on his own) is not supposed to be there. And, unless they are hiding behind a cinder block wall (there are none inside my house) my CZ will punch a round straight through whatever they think is going to protect them. I do not and will not give the bad guys an even break or a fair anything. And forget talking.
I have spent most of my adult life protecting and or saving or trying to save others from harm, and because of that I have ingrained habits and I walk the house with the lights off occasionally just to keep in mind where everything is. I also taught my daughter when she was younger and actually to this day, to hit the floor and stay there until I say it's ok, And when she got old enough to use firearms she had one available locked in a small safe in the bottom drawer. My wife also knows to go to cover if the alarm goes off, just so I don't have to worry or wonder about her or them.
That's just the way I'm wired. Most LEO's and Military are the same way, or at least the ones that have seen the Elephant anyway (shot at and returned fire and lived to tell about it) especially those of us that have spent years doing the jobs we picked. So no I do not expect anyone at all anywhere to adopt what works for me. I am simply pointing out some things a great many people (including "Professionals") either don't know about or have forgotten. I have no problem with you thinking that I am a little over the top and or don't know what I am talking about or even both things at once. But, give this idea a try.
At night, walk your home with the lights out. Or at least the ones that would generally be off at night while you sleep. Do not use a flashlight or anything at all, just close your eyes and after a min or two open them and odds are that you will be able to see as well as you would if you woke up in the middle of the night. Your eyes came adapt to low light the more they are open. It's not as dark as you would think. So, now carefully walk your home, can you see or sense where things are? Move slowly, this is not something done fast. Ok that's done, now do this. Get a flashlight, (without turning on any house light to do it, presuming of course you aren't already holding one) turn it on, I bet your eyes either closed or you squinted really hard for a second or two when there was suddenly more light in the room. Now look along the path of the light, how easy is it to see what's on the outside of that light cone? Try this with another person in the room and see if you can see them when you don't have the light right on them, even though you could see them fine before you turned on the flashlight. The lights not only messes up your night vision, they also make their own shadows or deeper shadows that makes it hard to see anything in those shadows. And a person can easily hide in that shadowy area and you would never know it. If you have a shot gun, unload it, leave the chamber open so you will KNOW it's not loaded, (well not so much if it's an o/u or s/s) Now walk your house with it at the ready and while you do that see how things work when you try turning a corner. If your barrel is over 20 inches you have to stick a lot of it out into space before you turn the corner or you will find it takes more time and effort to raise the barrel or drop the barrel depending on what you consider "at the ready is" And every single second it takes is that much more time for the other person to either grasp the barrel and take the weapon away or simply shoot you.
Anyway, try it or not, after all this is a casual conversation, about what if's and as usual I have flapped my gums far too long. Not to mention this is a might bit off topic possibly. Kinda depends on whether the orginal question works for this catogory/topic or if it would be more at home in the General Firearms discussion Board?
