Lights and sights

Whether it's at the range or, more importantly, during an operation, seeing and lining up a target is the most important thing you can do before firing your weapon. That becomes a challenge if you're forced to shoot at night or in low-light situations. Unless you're Donnie Yen's Caine from John Wick: Chapter 4 or Ray Charles in The Blues Brothers, you're going to have a difficult time aiming at and hitting something engulfed in darkness.

Unfortunately, law enforcement officers don't always have the luxury discharging their weapons outside at high noon on a cloudless day, as Lt. Frank Borelli (ret.) points out in his article about weapons lights and sights in OFFICER Magazine's January/February issue.

"(The) reality is that roughly 80% of law enforcement use of force decisions are made in low- or no-light situations. These are the situations wherein we bring our own light and, if we’ve been trained properly, use it to our best advantage."

Frank's a veteran patrol officer and a firearms and low-light instructor. He's seen how weapons' lighting has evolved over the decades. Check out his story, which looks at the considerations when it comes to integrating lights with a gun's optics and other features.

Also, this month: Our review of the Taurus GX2, a discussion of the new professional appearance for police officers and an Ansell eyewear QuickChat.

—Joe Vince
News editor