Laser weapons

I wonder when or if the government (I'm speaking from the UK here) will start clamping down on lasers? There was a big hoo-hah a few years ago when red pointers started becoming widely available - I recall a news article when legendary dimwit David Beckham had one waved at him and said "I felt this burning pain on my cheek... I've never felt pain like it..." but to the best of my knowledge, they've never been banned.

Nor is there any existing legislation against private laser ownership. You can quite happily go and buy a 25W CO2 laser or a copper vapour laser (providing you can afford it!) and no-one can stop you.

However. With powerful greenies becoming more available, how long before some bright spark realises that by removing the IR filter, you have a potential weapon in your hands? A 100mw IR beam with a handy bright green dot for sighting would make a dandy deterrent against muggers, rapists or other unsavoury characters.

Or turning it around... an equally enterprising criminal could quite happily blind his victim before robbing them.

I wonder how long before we see the first news story of someone using a modded laser in this fashion? And what shape the public outcry will take?

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A 100mw IR beam with a handy bright green dot for sighting would make a dandy deterrent against muggers, rapists or other unsavoury characters.

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I've been hit with a 10 WATT laser regularily for birthmark removal, and it sure as heck wouldn't stop anyone if they wanted to hurt you. 100 mW wouldn't do much at all.

I think it'll be a very long time, if ever, that lasers are used as practical weapons.

And I'm sure when they do, you'll hear things like:

"Ban lasers! Do it for the children! Please, won't somebody think of the children?"

"You don't need assault lasers to hunt deer"

"There's no reason civilians should own military-style assault lasers"

"Lasers are a weapon of choice for terrorists and gangs"

"The only people who should have lasers are police and the military"

"If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright laser ban, picking up every one of them, Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them all in, I would have done it." - Senator Dianne Feinstein

"After seeking advice from NRPB the Department of Trade and Industry has urged Trading Standards Authorities to use their existing powers under the General Product Safety Regulations 1994 to remove laser pointers of a Class higher than Class 2 (as defined in the British Standard) from the general market."

http://www.nrpb.org/press/information_sheets/laser_pointers.htm

I think we can take from that it's illegal to sell laser pointers >1mw in the UK. Ownership of >1mw is not illegal. Use of >1mw is illegal in public without permission from the council, however in private I don't think it would cause concern.

You can just as easily use a screwdriver as a weapon. Cant see them being licensed

Badhorsey-why would you want then banned? you recently bought one.

Quazar -- You don't need green lasers to hunt deer.

100mw won't do crap.... Maybe singe a bit of hair, that's all.

Yeah, but a 100mW of dangerous infrared light that will do alot of crap to the eyes /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif.

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Frangible said:
Quazar -- You don't need green lasers to hunt deer.

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Agreed - 308 winchester would be better /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/xyxgun.gif

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Quazar said:
Badhorsey-why would you want then banned? you recently bought one.

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I don't want them banned - but I wonder just when the media hysteria will inevitably blow up.

As weapons they're pretty crap - unless you point it at somebody's eyes.

Glad you dont want them banned. Lets just hope nobody does any thing silly. Then no one will get hysterical.

Laser Pointers have been banned in my school as they are considered "dangerous weapons that will blind people" Most kids at my school only have access to cheap red pointers that don't do anything but make a red dot. Even then, few people know that high output green lasers do exist and even with that, you need a magnifying glass to concentrate the beam from a green laser in order to burn something. Teachers themselves are still using laser pointers for class presentations anyway.

Even if lasers have been banned; there are still many things avaliable that can blind. We've made the switch from overheads to multimedia LCD projectors and the metal halide lamps in those projectors are way brighter than the overheads. (Imagine some kid turning a projector on and blinding other students by pointing it at the crowd.) Even more dangerous weapons would be a ballpoint pen or a pencil; it dosen't matter if it's a BIC or a Monte Blanc, you could poke someone with it and yet, the school board isn't rushing out to ban classroom projectors, pens, and pencils.

laser pointers are more of a potential public annoyance than a dangerous weapon....

It would be a safety concious sociaty having a major over-reaction if steps were taken to enforce stricter laws on laser pointers.

The hoohar surrounding the banning of laser pens higher than 1mW (in the UK) was a bit pathetic as well. Especially as you can still get them from online retailers and theres an abundance of them on Ebay.

On a similar note, I also remember seeing a BBC news report on Stun Guns being imported to the UK (Stun Gun possestion here has been illegal since the early 90's i think)

But some people on the report were actually COMPLAINING that sentences for stun gun possestion were not equal to that of owning an actual firearm. Hello!?? Stun Guns CANNOT kill you, read up on it! Guns CAN! I had to sit through that report listening to some ignorant yorkshire bus-driver tell us how "if 'ad had bad 'art - it'd 'av taken me out that!". oh please.

Sorry, i think Im ranting now /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/str.gif

Mandatory button locks, background checks, vague bans on mislabled lasers, amnesty buy backs. That should about take care of it.

Don't forget the Saturday Night Special ultra cheapies at the dollar stores.

And the ultimate goal, the Red Ryder lever action laser: you could put your eye out with that.

I know, a laser can be a dangerous thing in the hands of an uninformed, careless or malicious individual. I just don't hear mine calling out to me or the pets to pick it up and run amok. It pretty much sits there next to the evil black rifle and the James Bond PPK and plots the demise of the free world.

Urp, I think I have just drank too much coffee. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/drunk.gif

Damn the UK has some restrictive laws. I just read where a Ford Land Rover commercial was banned in the UK because an actor in it used a pistol to signal the start of a race.

(source: http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000102&sid=awhOkOKszkVE&refer=uk )

Thus, it depicted guns as being "fun and cool" and was therefore banned. Freedom of speech indeed.

Of course, the response on the forum where I read that was... "but, guns ARE fun and cool". /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif