Rob Pincus

FN Self-Defense Flashlight Techniques

Rob Pincus
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Duration:   4  mins

Rob Pincus demonstrates flashlight techniques with defensive firearms. Rob has seen, practiced, and taught different methods over the years, but now he stresses the importance of separating the flashlight and the handgun, especially when it comes to personal defense.

If you’re searching your house for family members (do not search your house for bad guys) or moving to a more secure area of the house, you should have a flashlight that is not attached to a handgun.

Purpose of the Flashlight

The flashlight is used to find and identify targets. Rob has a compact flashlight with lanyard and clip — this is perfect for everyday carry. It can perform mundane tasks and be used as a self-defense flashlight for finding and identifying threats in a worst-case scenario. Rob is also carrying a compact handgun, an FNS-9 Compact.

These two tools work well together as part of his self-defense gear: a compact firearm and a compact flashlight. Rob has one in each hand. This self-defense flashlight is his primary light, and he wants it to be handheld, not weapon-mounted.

Self-Defense Flashlight Techniques

Rob is not in favor of using the flashlight hand to stabilize the firearm. He keeps the flashlight hand independent and focused on its task of finding and identifying threats. We need to be able to direct the flashlight beam specifically and also use the light intermittently and indirectly, working the switch off and on while flashing and bouncing the light off walls, ceilings and floors.

Rob keeps the handgun in the ready position and operates the flashlight with the other hand. The lanyard on the flashlight is useful because if he needs to put two hands on the handgun or do anything else with the flashlight hand, he can drop the flashlight and the lanyard keeps it around his wrist.

For related topics, check PDN’s library of handgun training videos.

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3 Responses to “FN Self-Defense Flashlight Techniques”

  1. waltermitty

    So ....... What flashlight were you using?

  2. John

    The idea of using a hand held flashlight vs a weapon mounted system is fine in the sense that you won’t accidentally flag a friendly. However, everything else mentioned in the video is a training issue. You guys should be encouraging better training instead of soft corner cutting tips that won’t teach solid practices. If I’m adhering to the other safety rules, a momentary flagging issue won’t cause any harm to good people, but will put my weapon into action that much faster with the actual threat.

  3. Ted Garza

    Haven't seen anything,yet

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