The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Good vs. bad of installing a laser sight on pistol?

444 · December 11, 2001, 11:49 AM

I have a little laser experience on a 9mm carbine (it was on there when I bought it), none with a handgun. I took a couple of non shooters out near dusk (this just happened to be when we went, I never even considered the laser) and they loved the laser. To me, it is no different than the advantages of putting a dot optical sight on a competition gun. You have no more sight alignment to think about. You don't have images of the back sight, front sight, target all in varying degrees of eye focus. It was much easier for me to tell them to just put the dot on the target rather than trying to explain how sight alignment works. Since they were getting hits on the targets (junk lying in the desert) they had a great time. I always considered stuff like this to be arm chair commando material but after seening that, I decided that maybe a laser has it's good points for someone who doesn't shoot much or someone that hasn't shot at all. I am sure that after their experience, they would feel confident shooting with the laser rather than the frustration I commonly see when people find out that shooting isn't like on TV (it is an aquired skill that takes practice to develop). I also feel that this might be a good thing for a home defense gun. I don't know if a particular person would be intimidated by being hit in the chest with a laser, but I guarentee that being hit in the eye with a laser will have a significant effect on anyone. Obviously the correct situation would have to present itself. The point is that if my girlfriend is awakened in the middle of the night by someone breaking out a window and is in the process of climbing in, a simple red dot on the target followed by a trigger squeze seems like the KISS priciple to me. She agreed. A lot of these threads get carried away with senarios involving swat team raids and running gun battles in the streets when the vast majority of us are a lot more concerned with protecting ourselves and our families from someone that just kicked in the front door. I personally have no interest in putting a laser on anything else I own and I don't think I have ever used the laser on that carbine other than the couple times I mentioned. But, I can see it's value for a inexperienced person home alone in a HD situation.

December 11, 2001, 11:49 AM	#17
444 Senior Member Join Date: November 20, 2000 Location: Ohio Posts: 3,968	I have a little laser experience on a 9mm carbine (it was on there when I bought it), none with a handgun. I took a couple of non shooters out near dusk (this just happened to be when we went, I never even considered the laser) and they loved the laser. To me, it is no different than the advantages of putting a dot optical sight on a competition gun. You have no more sight alignment to think about. You don't have images of the back sight, front sight, target all in varying degrees of eye focus. It was much easier for me to tell them to just put the dot on the target rather than trying to explain how sight alignment works. Since they were getting hits on the targets (junk lying in the desert) they had a great time. I always considered stuff like this to be arm chair commando material but after seening that, I decided that maybe a laser has it's good points for someone who doesn't shoot much or someone that hasn't shot at all. I am sure that after their experience, they would feel confident shooting with the laser rather than the frustration I commonly see when people find out that shooting isn't like on TV (it is an aquired skill that takes practice to develop). I also feel that this might be a good thing for a home defense gun. I don't know if a particular person would be intimidated by being hit in the chest with a laser, but I guarentee that being hit in the eye with a laser will have a significant effect on anyone. Obviously the correct situation would have to present itself. The point is that if my girlfriend is awakened in the middle of the night by someone breaking out a window and is in the process of climbing in, a simple red dot on the target followed by a trigger squeze seems like the KISS priciple to me. She agreed. A lot of these threads get carried away with senarios involving swat team raids and running gun battles in the streets when the vast majority of us are a lot more concerned with protecting ourselves and our families from someone that just kicked in the front door. I personally have no interest in putting a laser on anything else I own and I don't think I have ever used the laser on that carbine other than the couple times I mentioned. But, I can see it's value for a inexperienced person home alone in a HD situation. __________________ You know the rest. In the books you have read How the British Regulars fired and fled, How the farmers gave them ball for ball, From behind each fence and farmyard wall, Chasing the redcoats down the lane, Then crossing the fields to emerge again Under the trees at the turn of the road, And only pausing to fire and load.