Are Lasers A Help Or A Crutch? You Decide

[Taurian]

http://gunsandrifles.com/2016/08/are-lasers-a-help-or-a-crutch-you-decide/

[oldranger53]

Interesting article.

There's 2 lasers in our stable here.

I decided to get my wife one, mainly to pique her interest in shooting again.  Plus, her range time is drastically less than my own.
I figure that IF she has to use her EDC for real, she MIGHT have a greater chance of making good hits with the laser.

But, that is only my hope.  Who knows if it will help or hurt?

<Stand Tall.  Speak the Truth.  Never Surrender.>

[Taurian]

I do like a laser on a long-gun (carbine and/or shotgun), but not so much on a handgun.

[LEJoe]

I believe lasers are a help. I can only speak for me and my family though. In the beginning of Julie's walk with the 2nd Amendment, she settled for a Charter Arms Undercover .38spl. I put Crimson Trace Laser grips on it. After several hundred rounds, (back when we use to actually train with it) it was determined that no matter how many adjustments I made, it was highly unlikely that the bullet was going to hit where the red dot was. ( for various reasons) However, at the same time, we determined that the bullet is going to be very close to the red dot at a distance of 5 to 7 feet. Good enough with a snubby anyways. It's a bedroom gun and it does not get bounced around or subject to factors that would knock it out of adjustment.

There are three major elements for me that sold me on the idea of a laser.
1.) My wife likes it. Happy wife happy life. (It's number 11 if you're counting them) 
2.) Maybe I'm dreaming, but there HAS to be a psychological advantage to a laser. That kind of goes against everything I've said on this board, because if I pull my gun I'm going to fire it. The laser is there because what if I don't fire for some reason unknown to me right now. That option could be very useful.
3.) If she is knocked down during a struggle and has to fire from the ground, or shoot with her weak hand, a laser would be most useful to index her target.

Either way, IMHO, a laser is much more than a novelty and has it's place in my shooting world, if for no other reason than to give my wife peace of mind.

[CR Williams]

It depends on how you use them. Don't chase the dot, you should be okay. Once sighted in correctly you need to keep focus on the target, be aware of the dot, put dot on focal point on extension, fire. Period. Don't adjust, don't try and move it. Focus, dot on focus, fire.

Put up a paper plate or piece of paper with your preferred target area or zone. Get yourself conditioned to firing whenever the dot is close to center of that zone even if it's not on the center. Do that enough so you don't try to adjust once it's inside the zone. Focus, dot, shoot.

Chase the dot and you give them time to kill you. That's where most people go wrong with lasers.