Handguns for personal defense are the hottest
thing in the firearms market now, and good concealable handguns
are selling like beer at a biker rally. More and more people
everyday are choosing to go heeled, as they realize that
personal defense, as the name suggests, is a personal thing. Our
police, troopers, and sheriffs in this nation are the best in
the world, but we cannot each have our own personal cop by our
side twenty-fours a day. Even if we could, we are just paying
someone else to do that which we choose to not do ourselves.
Personal defense is up to each of us, and it makes the
difference between being able to walk away from an unsavory
social conflict, and being carried away in a body bag.
The low-life predators who choose a life of
violent crime tend to ply their wares at night. In a violent
attack, the criminal has the luxury of pre-planning, the
privilege of careful victim selection, and the advantage of
surprise. When confronted by a violent criminal, the best that
we can do is to react, and react quickly. The criminal has the
advantage, and will use it to come out as the winner. Our
reaction to attack must be swift, and at least equally as
violent as the attack. To the majority of us, this means that we
carry a concealable handgun. A twelve-gauge shotgun would be
nice to have, but most of us cannot walk around carrying a
shotgun while going about our daily lives, so we choose a
handgun that can always be within reach.
Handgun sights, even the better ones, are hard
to see at night. The sights that are installed on
concealable handguns can sometimes be hard to see even in good
light. All of my fighting handguns wear either tritium night
sights or a laser sight. Many of them wear both. A good quality
laser sight makes placing the bullets where intended much
easier. We are all taught in firearms training classes to focus
only upon the front sight, allowing the rear sight and the
target to fade out of our focus. This is a great idea, when on a
well-lighted firing range, all lined up nice and straight on the
seven yard line. However, when in a dimly-lit parking garage,
watching two punks quickly approaching you from both sides, I
can guarantee you that your focus will be upon those dregs of
humanity, and nothing else. You won’t see your front sight,
your rear sight, or your handgun. You might see your life flash
before your eyes briefly, but you absolutely will be focused
upon your target. A good laser sight puts the sight on the same
focal plane as the target, much like a scope does on a hunting
rifle. You place the dot on the target and pull the trigger. You
keep doing so until the threat has been eliminated, if all goes
well.
There are a few very good laser sights
available on the market, and there is also some junk. There is a
reason why that Chinese sight you bought at the gun show costs
only twenty-five bucks. I prefer to stick with the good stuff.
LaserLyte makes some of the good stuff, as we found when we
tested their sights for the Glock
& Springfield XD pistols, the NAA
mini-revolver, their Laser
Trainer, and their Kryptonyte Green
Laser Bore Sighter. Their latest is a new side-mount laser
that mounts to the side of Smith & Wesson and Taurus
revolvers. The laser mount uses the existing side-plate screw
holes. There is no drilling of holes. Simply remove the two
existing screws and attach the laser with the new screws
provided. If the revolver’s grip is in the way, remove it to
install the laser and remount when finished.
One of the most popular self defense
revolvers on the market today is the Taurus
Judge, in any of its several variations. The Judge fires
either 45 Colt or preferably for defense, 410 shotgun shells.
For defense, I like the 000 buck loads. I mounted the LaserLyte
sight on the side of a Taurus
Judge Ultra-Lite revolver. The laser is activated by a push
button at the rear, and there was no need to change grips. The
Taurus Ribber grip slid right over the LaserLyte mount plate.
The laser is easily adjusted to point of aim with the small
Allen wrench provided. Everything needed to mount the laser on
any Taurus revolver is provided with the sight.
The LaserLyte laser operates in either a
solid red dot or a pulsating dot mode. Pushing the button at the
rear of the sight once turns on the solid dot. Pushing again
activates the pulsating dot, and pushing the button a third time
turns off the unit.
The LaserLyte laser sight is easy to operate,
easy to install, does not change the grip of the revolver, and
is available now from your favorite LaserLyte dealer. In a
fight, I want every advantage that I can get, and the LaserLyte
laser sight gives me a little more of an edge than a handgun
without one.
Check out the entire line of LaserLyte
products online at www.laserlyte.com.
Jeff Quinn