Other than personal opinion, where do you get that as a "rule".
Because I have actual real world experience that tells me its better to have a light at night, to identify that the bad guy is indeed a bad guy, and to see whether or not he is armed, and to see what is going on.
And the amazing thing about having a light on your gun is, that should you need it, its already bolted to the gun, and you'll be quite happy its there. If you don't need it, then that's fine, don't turn it on. Plus, a light physically bolted to your gun is not likely to get lost. Hand held lights on your night stand can get knocked to the floor, the kids can play with them, the wife could use it and not return it; its rather possible that a hand held light that you think is there, is actually missing when you go to find it.
I don't know your experience and training level in "tactical" level environments, but I can deduce from your opinion, that you have minimal actual hands on tactical training, or night time training, or flashlight training.
I could take 100 recruits and run them through the most basic of night time shooting and decision making and 100 out of 100 would absolutely give you an after action report basically stating that the importance of a light is HUGE. Have them do a drill without a light, and they suck. Have them do the drill with light, they do pretty good. Your eyes are your most important intelligence gathering tool. If they cant see.....
I don't get why posting about the scientific aspect of night time eye sight is even close to relevant. Cones, rods, red light light, blue light.... Can you see the threat or not??!! That's all that matters. No one cares about cones, rods, or science stuff when a bad guy is walking down your hallway. In the dark, you cant see the bad guy, you cant see if he is armed. Are you advocating for the shooting of "shadows" that haven't been verified by your eyeballs to be actual threats? That's how daughters and wives get shot.
This should be such a no-brainer, the fact that I have to explain it to you is quite puzzling.
You cant see in the dark. Period. Your eyes don't work properly, in the dark, to gather all the information that you need. You can make assumptions that the person walking down your hallway is in fact a bad guy. Or it could be the friendly neighborhood police officer that is there to investigate an open front door, that was blow in by the wind, and no one answered when he knocked.
Having a bright light, and using it properly, gives you a clear tactical advantage. What do you think the bad guy is going to think when 1200 lumens of Surefire hits his eyeballs? Its going to cause him to look away, its going to disorient him, its going to mess up his OODA loop.
For the sake of conversation, I'd be interested to know how you plan to address a home defense situation at night, without a light? Bad guys have been knows to flip breakers and cut phone lines, so "turning the hall way light on" doesn't count. How are you going to respond effectively, without a good, solid flashlight at your disposal, especially if the bad guy kills your power first? You'll soon realize that depending on light switches for all of your tactical light, and not having a back up option, was perhaps foolish.
And old saying, one is none, and two is one, applies here. And of course, its better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.
Edit: I cant decide if you are anti-flashlight, or anti gun-mounted flashlight. If you keep a handheld light next to your gun for night time use, then that is fine, and will work for you. Me personally, all my home defense guns, all of them, have lights mounted to them. My Benelli M2 tactical in the closet has a Malkoff MD2 mounted to it. My Colt 6720 AR15 has a Surefire scout mounted to it. My M&P 2.0 has a Surefire X400. That's almost $1000 in flashlights - yes, I feel so strongly about having access to light, I spent almost $1000 equipping my home defense guns. I feel that strongly about it. AND I keep a handheld Surefire on my side of the bed, and a handheld Surefire on the wife's side of the bed, for back up or for general use like looking under the bed for the lost TV remote, which of course would be impractical and ill advised for a gun mounted light.
