You Need a Specific Home Defense Weapon for Use at Night

For some reason, when the topic of fighting at night comes up, everyone runs with the narrative of “you’re being paranoid.” Those will be the first people changing their underwear the second something goes bump in the night inside their home while they’re sleeping. You should have a specific home defense weapon for use at night. This can be a pistol, rifle, or shotgun. But simply going out and buying a firearm and defensive ammo isn’t enough.

When setting up a home defense weapon, you want to check all the necessary boxes to ensure you have what you need to handle any situation without needing to quickly attach gear to your home defense weapon or go in search of something you forgot and now need to fit the scenario you’re faced with. Seconds matter, and you don’t get to pick the day and time someone tries to break into your home.

If something were to happen at the worst moment possible, you need to be ready to grab your home defense weapon and be able to go to work immediately. Garry Marr, a firearms instructor and friend of mine once said, “100% of home invasions happen in the home.” And he’s right while stating the obvious. Additionally, if someone is breaking into your home in the middle of the night, their plan may be to do more than just steal some of your belongings. You need to prepare and have a plan in place, and that’s where a home defense weapon comes into play.

There are nearly three burglaries every minute in the US every day. That’s one every 22 seconds. Now, imagine you becoming part of that statistic while lying in bed trying to sleep before a big meeting you have the next morning. Even worse, think about a home invasion taking place in the middle of the night, and you have young, defenseless children in your home. You need to be prepared and have a home defense weapon.

Circling back to my friend Garry (sorry, getting a little sidetracked but still on topic), he offers classes through his business, Tremis Dynamics, called F.I.S.H., which stands for Fighting In Someone’s House. I am signed up for this class as it’s a class for fighting inside a home (like your own) with a rifle, which depending on when you’re reading this, I may have already taken and published an article on. That said, I highly suggest you sign up for one of his classes.

Let’s look at a few factors to consider as well as get into how I set up my specific home defense weapon for use at night.

Disclaimer: This article on using a home defense weapon at night is for informational purposes only. It should be noted that I am not law enforcement, military, or any type of operator. I’m an ordinary civilian who focuses on self-defense and self-preservation and loves everything firearms, tactics, and self-defense-related. Know your local laws regarding firearms and use the information provided in this article to make your own informed decision on what you need based on your circumstances. You should always seek out professional firearms training to improve your skills. Check your local laws to see when you can legally use your firearm in your home.

The Importance of Light on a Home Defense Weapon
Do You Need a Laser on Your Home Defense Weapon?
How Did I Set Up My Home Defense Weapon for Use at Night
Are You Prepared in the Even Something Happens in Your Home at Night?

The Importance of Light on a Home Defense Weapon

Not having a light on your home defense weapon is a major problem. You need to be able to properly identify a threat before you engage it. The last thing you want to do is wake up to a loud crash in your home, grab your firearm, go downstairs, and point a firearm at what you believe to be a threat, only to find out it’s your spouse or kid getting a drink in the middle of the night and broke a glass when it fell and shattered on the floor.

Living with the consequence of your actions from what was mentioned above would be nearly impossible. Not only that, but you could spend some time behind bars.

Having a light on your home defense weapon isn’t an option, it’s a must. There are no exceptions, there are no “what ifs,” put a light on your home defense weapon — don’t be stupid. Additionally, know how to use the light effectively so that you aren’t pointing the gun at someone you aren’t willing to put holes in to defend yourself. A handheld light would also be ideal for positively IDing a threat before presenting the firearm with sights on target.

Do You Need a Laser on Your Home Defense Weapon?

The short answer to this is no — you don’t need a laser on your home defense weapon. However, it serves a purpose if there. For instance, on my nightstand Glock 17, I have a Streamlight TLR-2 that produces 1,000 lumens of white light, has a laser, and comes with a contoured remote switch that, when you grip the firearm, actuates the light/laser combo.

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In the middle of the night (especially for those who don’t nearly get enough training reps in), having a setup like I just mentioned can simplify the entire process. You light up your home and get a laser to help aim while you’re still sleepy-eyed. That said, you better be sure of what you’re pointing your home defense weapon at if you’re pointing it at someone with the light on (see the reason mentioned in the section above). As mentioned earlier, a handheld light would be ideal as well for identification purposes.

A sighted-in laser provides you with a visual, other than looking through your sights or red dot at a threat. Simply put the laser where you want the bullet to go, and depending on the threat presented, it will determine if you need to pull the trigger or not. If you shoot an unarmed person in your home, legally you may need to answer to a judge why you pulled the trigger on your home defense weapon and feared for your life.

Obviously, with the Castle Doctrine in place, there is some gray area there, which will still need to have an explanation for your actions.

Would I personally recommend a laser? Yes. Again, it’s a tactical advantage. But your mileage may vary on your reason for having/not having one on your home defense weapon.

home defense weapon AR-15 — GBRS Hydra Mount and red dot to the left, Holosun in the middle, Inforce to the right — Using a Mantis Blackbeard X bolt and magazine (laser dry fire system)

How Did I Set Up My Home Defense Weapon for Use at Night

I want to preface this by saying I went a little overboard (but in a good way, in my opinion). I understand not everyone has the disposable income to just toss money into new gear and outfit their home defense weapon with various items that give them a tactical advantage. The good news is you should already have a tactical advantage since you’re in your own home and know the layout, whereas an intruder does not.

That all being said, you need to train with your home defense weapon and run drills in your home. Be sure to remove all ammo from the area and triple check to ensure your home defense weapon is clear. If you want a really cool training system for your AR platform or AR pistol, check out the Mantis BlackbeardX. I did an entire review on the system that you can read here.

Here’s what I added to my home defense weapon (AR-15) to be able to effectively use it at night:

*Everything that I mention is on my home defense weapon I purchased with my own money. I was not sent any of the gear I’m using, I was not paid by any company to review or mention their products, and the opinions on the gear I’m running are my own.

One item I am using not listed above is a red dot on my home defense weapon. I’m a huge fan of red dot optics on both handguns and rifles, in my case, it’s an AR-15 (although I do have a pistol set up for night use as well). It should also be noted that I have night vision, which is the reason for my choices above. If you want to read about my night vision setup, click the article below.

Related Article: Budget Night Vision — The Perfect Setup for Civilian Use

Being that the items listed are not cheap, let’s discuss their application and why I specifically chose them.

Inforce Weapon Mounted White/IR Light

When not using night vision, I wanted a light that would be bright enough to light up the rooms in my house without being so bright that it negatively affects my vision when the light is activated. At 400 lumens, the white light sitting on the front of my home defense weapon is bright enough to allow me to see clearly in all areas of my home.

I like the position of the actuation button being on the back so that with my C-clamp grip, I am able to easily manipulate it on and off without needing to reposition my hands and grip.

Most important to me is the IR light feature. With my night vision goggles on, I can switch the lever on the Inforce over to IR and be able to light up areas without a visible light being detected by others. This gives me an advance of being discrete when moving through my home (or outside on my property) and being undetected while still seeing everything around me clearly.

Holosun Dual Red Laser with IR

If you want to spend thousands of dollars on a DBAL to mount on your home defense weapon, by all means, be my guest. However, I’d probably need to find a new place to live if my wife found out I purchased a laser that was in the thousands. Therefore, I went with a more economical purchase, and that was the Holosun.

Now, I will say this, for the price you pay for this Holosun laser to be attached to your home defense weapon, it’s a solid piece of gear. You get a red laser that can be used during the day and then the ability to switch over to IR to use at night with night vision. Is that obsessive? You may think so, but if something were to ever happen in my home or on my property, I want every advantage possible and do not plan on fighting fair.

To be completely transparent with the purchase, I will say this. My pressure switch that came with the unit was garbage. It crackled like a newspaper every time you pressed the button. I hated it. I contacted Holosun customer service, and they were nice enough to send me another one. Mind you, I’m not sure why, but it took over two weeks to get the replacement. And after checking the replacement, this one had the same issue of making noise when pressing the button, but not as bad as the one that came with the unit. I may look to purchase an aftermarket pressure switch in the future.

Hooking everything up onto my rail was easy enough to do, and I did some cable management with some Camo Form Tape to tidy it all up and make sure the cable wouldn’t snag on anything and so that the button stayed in place securely.

I also needed to move the Holosun off the rail of my home defense weapon so that the laser would not shine directly into my Inforce light on the front. To accomplish this, I got a new mount mentioned below.

GBRS Hydra Mount

GBRS is owned by a group of Navy SEALs who are all solid guys. They had real-world experience with gear in combat and are now innovating the game in terms of gear that helps the end user. Their mounts are expensive but fit a purpose.

As mentioned above, I needed to raise my Holosun above my light to have a clear path for the laser to travel. The GBRS Hydra Mount fits the bill precisely. Additionally, it allowed me to raise my optic to shift it into my line of sight without tucking my head down toward the buttstock to see my dot. This allows me to have a more upright posture and head-up position to minimize head movement.

Are You Prepared in the Even Something Happens in Your Home at Night?

With everything I mentioned above, hopefully, it gave you some ideas and insight into what to consider when building your home defense weapon for use at night. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on your setup or go as crazy as I did. But at a minimum, you need a light on whatever home defense weapon you choose.

I prefer to be prepared rather than be forced to react to situations and fly by the seat of my pants. If you’re like me, you need to think about these things and prepare for them in the event you’re ever involved in the worst night of your life and have to defend your life and the lives of those in your home. And staging your home defense weapon is a great way to be prepared and not become a victim.

When it comes to keeping my firearms secure, I’m a huge fan of GunVault products. For instance, I use the GunVault Multi Vault Deluxe as a bedside safe. It allows me to store multiple firearms in it of varying sizes and I highly recommend it.

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And as always, go out and get the proper training needed to be proficient with your firearm(s) and gear. I am not an instructor, tactical ninja, or door-kicker, and I don’t pretend to be one on the weekends. I’m simply someone who seeks knowledge, improvement, and proficiency when it comes to self-defense and the ability to protect my family and those around me. You are your own first line of defense, seek the training of a certified and experienced instructor.

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You Need a Specific Home Defense Weapon for Use at Night

Table of contents

The Importance of Light on a Home Defense Weapon

Do You Need a Laser on Your Home Defense Weapon?