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Two Letters Re: Home Defense Tactics for the Disabled and the Infirmed
Mr. Rawles:
In regards to the Home
Defense Tactics for the Disabled and the Infirmed post.
This
is a YouTube video that plays a 911 recording of a lady [in Indiana]
who was at home alone when a guy whom she had dated a couple of times and
then after she broke up from him, he started stalking her. He came to her
house one night and she called 911.
Fortunately she had a weapon and was willing to use it.
Near the end after he broke into her bedroom he tried choking her, she shot
him three times, one of the shots is muffled because she had the pistol pressed
against him.
This needs to be shared with every woman you know. This proves the old adage
that police investigate crimes and are unable to stop most of them. They would
not been able to protect her. Yes she had court orders in place to "protect" her,
they didn't do any good either. When seconds count, 911 is [still]
minutes away. - Eric B. in Southern Idaho
Jim,
Like you, I am also not a fan of red dot sights for "at night" use.
Some time ago I investigated the different available night time systems available.
Below is what I discovered:
1. Red dot sight-- okay during the day but at night-- not good! Because
of the brightness it causes pupil constriction, and due to the "consensual
eye reflex" (CER) the other pupil constricts
as well it was dark before, now it's really dark, i.e. it
blinds you ! (until the rodopsin recovers).
In trying to turn the red dot site down to a level that doesn't cause this,
it makes it very difficult to reliably see the red dot!
2. Night vision mounted as a scope on a rifle-- same as above-- better have
a buddy with you to watch your back who has natural night vision unimpaired
while yours recovers.
A headset is better but you're kinda stuck in tunnel vision as you don't have
peripheral vision with these. (See note above about having a buddy.) Better
to keep them on until in an area of safety.
3. OEG (occluded eye gun site) works off tritium (and fiber optic during the
day). Oddly this seems to adjust to the needed level automatically without
stimulating pupil constriction. I am not sure why, maybe it's a different wavelength
of red that doesn't stimulate CER. The problem with this site is that it does
take some training to use though as you don't look into it as your do past
it. I think the best thing is the Trijicon ACOG as it works in a very similar
way.
With this site you can actually look into it, it offers magnification, and
again adjusts to ambient light levels to prevent CER. The drawback is of course
price.
4. The plain, good ol' tritiums sights, as you recommended, are the low buck
choice. These as well do not seem to stimulate CER as they are usually far
out enough from the eye (arms length) to not be too bright. I prefer the ones
from TruGlo for pistols that are fiber optic as well and XS Systems for rifles
and shotguns. Well, I hope you find this helpful. Yours in Freedom, - DH
