I had something happen last night that was very pertinent to this discussion.

My Mother is coming to live with us and we're getting the house ready. And we just brought in some boxes for bunk beds. Well last night I was in my living room. Every once in a while I'll take a shower and then just put sweats or jammy pants on and not have a gun on me later at night. That was last night. So, I hear what I figure is a box fall, and I go to check it out. I wanted to make sure one of the bigger boxes didn't fall down and crush my one of my kids.... Which I didn't really think would happen, but playing it safe. I grabbed my surefire light and went and checked.

I didn't really locate which box fell because I wasn't sure how they were arranged exactly to begin with. My son put them in his room. But whatever. But the whole thing taught me that I should've done things better.

First, I shouldn't have assumed it wasn't something dangerous. What if somebody was actually trying to get in. I think the noises would've persisted and I would've known the difference, but I shouldn't have assumed that. And then, the other thing is recently I had taken my XD45 Tactical and put a light on it for my HD weapon. For a long time I had relied on a pistol, with a handheld, because I didn't want to point my gun even towards someone when searching. So now I'm kind of unsure about how I should do this. Somebody was telling me I need to use a handheld AND a WML on my pistol. Now it makes sense. Because my express purpose was shining my light on the kids and making sure they were alright. I know you can splash the floor, but I'm not sure it would've worked the same.

Anyways.... to the OP, I hear what you're saying about not clearing a house. But do you just call the cops every time you hear something wonky happen? How do you know if the something wonky isn't an intruder, or just nothing to worry about? I think there are times where it might behoove you to have a look first. But there's no garrauntee's it's not a criminal.

One time we had left the Garage door open and raccoons were in the Garage and one of them was clawing at the side door into the house. The first couple seconds sounded like someone was busting into the house. I had my pistol drawn in a second and I thought for sure I was going to have to shoot someone. But after a little bit I figured out it wasn't a person but an animal. That one got my adrenaline going.

But what was I supposed to do, immediately call the cops before doing anything? If it was a person, they could've been in there licketly split and calling 911 would've been meaningless. I was dumb for not making sure the Garage door was closed. And we learned our lesson that night. But nobody is perfect.

So anyways.... I may go back to a pistol with just a handheld, but I'm not sure. But the XD with a light AND a handheld would probably work. I put the lanyard back on the light so I can let it drop if I have it around my wrist. And having a gun with a light is good in case you don't have time to grab both.

But I'm thinking a handheld with a pistol without a light isn't that bad of a thing either. As long as you practice with it that way. I like to keep things simple and operating two different lights sort of muddies the water for my pea brain......

I would like to know if many of you all actually grab a wheelgun for HD. It's another thing I wrestle with mentally because my main carry gun is a revolver. If I go along with the keeping things simple mantra, I wonder if having the same system for HD is a good idea or not. I just know most Autos have more capacity and feel like a better choice for HD. But some of the things I like about a DA revolver for a serious gun translate over into Home Defense. But shooting them 1 handed is more of a challenge than say a single action HiPower or 1911 with one hand.