Just one thing from me this week.

I have told this story out loud a few times but I have never written it down. It happened last summer, at my own house.

My Low-Light Story

One evening last summer I was sitting at home, relaxing as it got close to bedtime. My son and daughter had gone out to the car to take care of something, and they came back inside to tell me they had seen a couple of men down the street they did not recognize, all dressed in dark clothing.

My wife and I got the younger kids to bed, and I decided to take a walk around the block, which I do sometimes. Down the street, around the corner, and back toward home.

As I rounded the final corner just before my house, I saw two men standing between my motorhome parked in the driveway and my son's car parked on the street. I could not see exactly what they were up to, but they were definitely loitering.

They picked up on me quickly. They started approaching. I think they were trying to play it cool, like they were just two guys out for a walk the same as I was.

I took my flashlight out of my pocket with my left hand — at the time a Modlite OKW, very powerful, very tightly focused beam. As they kept closing the distance, I side-stepped out into the street. One of them stepped into the street too, mirroring me. The other stayed on the sidewalk. I picked up my pace to flank them a little better.

Understand that all of this happened in about three seconds.

About that point my light was in my hand, I was moving laterally, and I turned it on — illuminating the ground near the closest guy. Instantly he was caught off guard by the intensity of it. And now I could see them. Dark clothing, hoodies, on a warm summer night. Face masks. I could tell they were up to no good.

I asked, "Hey, can I help you?" with some assertiveness in my voice.

The first guy said, "Nah man, we're good." But he kept coming, a little more tentatively now.

So I moved the light to their faces. They instantly squinted. One of them shielded his eyes with his hand and arm.

I asked again, firmer this time. "Can I help you?"

One of them said, "Yeah, you can put your light away!"

I kept working my distance, moving down my own street toward my house, and they kept circling, mirroring me.

At that point I told them: "No. I'm going to keep my light right on you, and you can get the heck out of here. I know my neighbors, and YOU DON'T BELONG HERE."

I was watching both of them very closely. One had his hands in his hoodie pockets. The other had his hands near his waistband. My right hand was inching nearer my own waistband, ready to go for my gun. For a moment I thought they might pull weapons and escalate the whole thing.

They started moving along instead. Cussing at me the whole way, still telling me to get the light off them. Eventually they went around the corner and disappeared.

I called the non-emergency dispatch line, reported suspicious persons, asked for extra patrols, and went inside.

About an hour later, right before bed, I decided to step outside and take one more look around. My house and property have some layout quirks that let me get outside unnoticed and see people well before they can see me. So I did that.

I had been standing in a dark spot at the corner of my property for barely a minute when I saw the same two individuals walking briskly down the cross street. This time they were carrying things.

I recognized it for what it was — a burglary that had just happened.

I was close to a hundred feet away from them at that point, and my light was still completely effective at that distance. I put it on them and yelled, "I SEE YOU! THE COPS ARE ON THEIR WAY! GET OUT OF OUR NEIGHBORHOOD!"

They dropped what was in their hands and ran.

I met up with officers a little while later, and a nice set of downhill skis got recovered out of a neighbor's bush.

Why I keep telling this one

I never drew my gun. It came close — my hand was on the way — but the tool that did the work that night was a flashlight.

And almost none of what I did with it was instinct. It was training.

The light came out in my support hand, which kept my gun hand free. I lit the ground near them first rather than going straight to their faces, because that told me what I needed to know without committing to anything. I was moving laterally the entire time instead of standing still and letting them set the geometry. When I did put it on their faces, it took away their ability to see me while I could see everything about them — the masks, the hoodies, where their hands were. An hour later, at a hundred feet, the same light let me identify two people who had no idea I was there.

That last part is not about how bright the light was. It is about the kind of bright. A light that throws a wide, soft flood would have done nothing for me at that distance. That distinction is one most people carrying a light have never had explained to them, and it is one of the things Dan Brady spends real time on in Defense After Dark.

This is why Jacob and I wanted to make this course, and why we went and found Dan to do it with us rather than filming it ourselves. It is not a topic we picked because it would sell. It is a topic where I have personally watched the gap between what people carry and what people know how to do with it.

If you have a light in your pocket right now and you have never trained with it in the dark, that is the gap I am talking about.

Enrollment at launch terms closes Wednesday, August 19. After that the course goes to its regular price and the bundle with the light is discontinued for good.

Stay Safe,

Riley Bowman - Director of Training
ConcealedCarry.com

P.S. Guardian Nation members — you already have this course, it showed up in your membership Friday. Go watch Module 3. That is the one that explains what happened at a hundred feet.