As good as these lights are, being able to use them properly for home defense is the goal, and this requires tactics and technique. The ultimate solution is to stay in a secure room and issue loud commands that you are armed and have called the police. If you can do this with the police dispatcher listening at the other end of the phone, fantastic. If the intruder continues to force his way in, it will be difficult for his surviving family or friends to claim that the shooting was unnecessary.

Whether the light is mounted to the gun or held in the hand, a bright white light serves two purposes: It allows the homeowner to identify whether a person is a threat, and it can momentarily blind an attacker.

Avoid confrontation if at all possible. Follow the Three Principles of Confrontation: avoid, evade and counter. On the other hand, if a confrontation is necessary, fight with full commitment.

Proper room-clearing doctrine calls for a team to accomplish the task, as no single person can look in all directions at once. If you have the capability of working in a team (husband, wife or roommate), great, but this is not possible for many.

What works to the homeowner's advantage is that he or she knows the home turf--the floor plan, location of obstacles, how doors open, where floors and stairs creak or squeak, and where he can find real cover.

A hand mirror can be used to look around hard corners and below the normal field of vision--something that would be hard to do with a flashlight in your support hand. Remember, the chief advantage of using a rail gun with a light attachment is that it frees your support hand to perform other tasks.

The job of clearing rooms, done properly, is a slow process--contrary to what you see on television and in the movies. While this may be quite difficult when you are concerned for the safety of family members, it is better to take your time and come to their aid late than never to arrive at all.

The technique known as "slicing the pie" or "wedging" requires the searcher to stand back as far as possible from the plane he needs to cross--such as an open doorway--and work his way slowly around the corner while keeping it covered.

Using the gun-mounted light when performing this technique is a judgment call. While the light will enhance vision and momentarily blind an opponent, it can also reveal your location to someone in your home. For this reason I would recommend that you turn on lights in any rooms you can before entering them.

Since you will be familiar with the locations of the light switches, this is something to consider. If I am going to fight, I would rather do it in the light, and I have used this approach over and over during my career; it works well. Suspects would either stand still, blinded by the sudden light, or flee into the darkness. In one case, my SWAT team was able to move a suspect by switching on lights and thereby chasing him to the location where we wanted him.

A big disadvantage to using a rail gun and light when crossing the plane of a door is that the gun must clear the door for enough light to get onto a target in a far corner. If not, the light may glare off the wall into the face of the homeowner, affecting his vision. This act may also result in more exposure of the upper body if not practiced ahead of time.

It is essential that you know just how much you need to lunge or lean to keep yourself hidden but still be able to light the target and fire. That means practicing this skill before you need it for real. In the case of home defense, prior planning and proper practice make perfect. Go slow, keep yourself under control, and be good with your rail gun and light. This is the formula to prevail during a home invasion.

The author has used lights from companies such as SureFire (left) and Insight (right) in actual law enforcement situations and can vouch for their effectiveness. The popularity of gun-mounted lights is such that nearly every pistol maker offers a model with an accessory rail. These lights can be great tools once you learn their proper use.