Laser pointer possibly to become offensive weapons to own in the UK

[smogthemog]

Been on BBC Radio news all morning:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/11280230

http://www.thesun.co.uk/scotsol/home...es-reveal.html

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/8372...ind____pilots/

[Lasermad]

Realistically its a "given" laws will be tightend up throughout the world , especially in Europe and UK , USA.

WL have sold in excess of 20,000 of the 1 watt blues , and when those f*ckers start landing on doorsteps and people start taking them out ...... phewwwww

..... never in the field of human history has such powerful laser photons been in then hands of so little brain cells .....

Trading standards _are_ doing the rounds , nottinghamshire have done a survey of availibilty in UK of anything above class 2 , and are sending out the local TS to see people , they have been out to see me regarding www.megagreen.co.uk , id like to think i have always been a responsible retailer of higher power lasers , and that was acknowledged but they are now enforcing the letter of the law, which is in essence not being available for general public purchase.Someone , somewhere in Uk , I guess is going to become their test case and "publicity stunt" attempting to sell ... it wont be me !

The greater issue is direct imports which i will guess is 99% of the lasers higher power lasers out there and the glamourisation of lasers in "cool" gadget type review sites and websites making them desirable to idiots

Time will tell but for a while i reckon the media will be doing hatchet job on laser owners and they will become as popular as pedos and junkies


paul




Paul

[shrad]

same issue is going on in France now, they are amending a law to include laser pointers in their list of offensive gadgets...

[norty303]

Glad to see that they are ensuring it's targetting specific kinds of lasers (i.e. handhelds) rather than lasers generally

[shrad]

in france they specify "laser devices not used for specific purpose", ie only integrators will be able to purchase lasers legally, if they manage to get it done

that reminds me of this chinese guy pointing a 808nm 3W laser from his scraper window, and I feel it still has some sense...

but what with us? we'll have to start a HeNe traffic ^^

[dnar]

This reminds me of the gun debate. Here in Aus it is now illegal to own a gun (unless registered for a very good reason) unlike the US...

Guns don't kill people, people kill people.

so is this also true:

Lasers don't blind people, people blind people.

?

[shrad]

no guns = no ability for dumbasses to kill people with them

no lasers = no ability for bumbasses to point out planes or peoples

I'm not trying to debate, but it is simpler to prevent use and import of a device at the source than preventing people to use them if they are readily available

[ElektroFreak]

So it's "simpler" to remove everyone's access to weapons/dangerous tools than it is to deal with the comparatively small percentage of retards? Hmmm, OK.. But is the simplest option always the best? Sure it's a fix, but what about people who are responsible? We must pay for the crimes of a few idiots? IMO preserving the ability of the responsible to possess weapons/dangerous tools is FAR more important than removing everyone's access because of a few morons.

In the US the necessary legislation already exists which bans ALL laser pointers over 4.99mW that do not meet FDA safety requirements, it's customs enforcement that's lacking. Also, the use of ANY laser over 4.99mW in public without strict government approval is already illegal here. Beef up customs enforcement and you'll likely see a decrease in the number of inexcusably high-powered portables appearing on the streets. I doubt that there would be much of a black market for them either. I'm not sure how you go about making something "more illegal".. all that can be done is to step up enforcement.

Don't misunderstand what I'm saying, I could live without portable lasers forever.. I've never been able to understand why people spend so much money on them. Once you've seen a real laser show, what possible appeal do pointers hold? In my case, none. I have one portable laser, a DVD-diode unit I made myself a long time ago. I DO however own firearms and I STAUNCHLY defend the rights of responsible citizens to own them as well.

The idea of removing everyone's right to defend themselves or their loved ones with deadly force in the face of violence just because some retards misuse weapons is despicable to me. If my wife or children were ever to face adversity and I was unable to protect them because I was stripped of my right to bear arms it would be a vile turn of events and I have no understanding of how any legislator in ANY country could subject their citizens to that possibility. And the idea that firearms are the only method of committing a violent crime is absolutely ridiculous. If criminals had no guns, they'd use knives, clubs, anything they can get their hands on.

With that said, I don't believe that portable lasers qualify as a useful weapon for self-defense, therefore I have no problem with portable lasers being completely inaccessible except to those who can build their own. I DO have a problem with the logic that banning everyone's ability to own and use weapons is a valid method of control. Perhaps under tyrannical leadership it is..

Just my long-winded opinion of course..

[laserdj]

Believe me: banning is never the solution
More laws is never the solution.

The actual solution is the police doing the job we pay them to do and punishing the offenders. There are already enough laws to punish people who do damage.

Now.. does your contry produce lasers? Bad luck hum...
Are you willing to take the risk to import an expensive laser module for your DIY projector to have it destroyed by customs and be fined/go to jail perhaps, on top of it?

Stupid is what stupid does... the morons will harvest diodes from anywhere available (now DVD drives, projectors.. in the future whoknows..) and build their eye-blinding sh*t.

I believe there is enough legislation in any country... how we will follow the laws if we have so many? We don´t... the result is we´re always "guilty" of something.. there are even laws that contradict themselves...

Ouch...

[flecom]

no guns = no ability for dumbasses to kill people with them

wow.... ya, lets ban guns, how did that work out for the UK?

they banned guns and their gun crime is now zero!

oh no just kidding its 3 fold what it used to be

clearly banning guns from lawful citizens is the answer!