7 Sept 21
Flashlights!
Every Operator, without fail, carries at least one tactical flashlight.
I recommend that everyone in the family, even those who do not normally go armed, also carry tactical flashlights. All my grandchildren over the age of nine carry one routinely.
Flashlights are not regulated and can be legally carried in schools, commercial aircraft, and other places where guns are restricted. Normally out of sight, flashlights can be deployed rapidly and used effectively as a non-lethal weapon, temporarily disorienting aggressors. Of course, tactical flashlights are also useful for any number of other, more mundane, tasks!
To earn the title of “tactical,” flashlights must have an output of 500 lumens or more.
There are more brands than I can keep track of, and most are very satisfactory. A number are small-sized, light, and very carryable.
EAGTac’s DX3B/MR represents a good choice. Only four inches long and 3/4 inch in diameter, it puts out 1200 lumens. Tail-cap switch makes it very usable.
Surefire’s E3T-MV (Tactician), at 800 lumens, and nearly the same size, is also one I recommend.
The Fenix E35, only slightly bigger, puts-out an astonishing 3k lumens, but does not have a tail-cap switch.
Firstlight’s T-Max/LE, with its convenient belt-clip and 800-lumen output, is my constant companion!
I routinely carry two of these four, and I’ve used them more than once to blind (temporarily) a suspicious person approaching me in a dark parking lot.
Works every time. I go my way unmolested, and no one gets hurt!
/John
