You need to look past the boundaries of your own backyard.
Certification ? Law ? What does that matter in other places of the world where the lasershow industry isn't big enough to warrant the authorities caring about it ? (like australia)
I am all for hobbyists. If it were not for the hobbyist route into this industry, I would not be where I am now. But understand, this industry is where it is because of professionals who paved the way for the hobbyist market many years ago. You need to be more grateful
As a non full-time but professional lasershow operator:
1. What we pay for insurance each year to protect ourselves and our equipment could buy some very nice "hobby" inventory
2. We run our business as a company, we pay our taxes, pay our accountants, etc.
3. Owe it to ourselves, our customers, and our audiences to keep on our toes and ensure that our equipment is maintained to a safe working order
4. We didn't learn any black magic tricks to get where we are. We have invested time and hard earned money into learning how to design and build laser projectors and perform shows in a safe, yet entertaining manner. We only had access to the information everybody else has.
Within a unique market such as Australia, a handful of clowns running around a city with eBay lasers doing $200 full colour shows (or FREE shows) with no real understanding or regard for safety (or that the essence of a good lasershow extends far further than how many "watts" your laser has) does devalue the services provided by professionals - to an extent.
The minute a "hobbyist" does a lasershow for money, or takes a lasershow away from a "professional" for free, are they still a hobbyist ?
My view is that, yep okay the bottom end of the market is now flooded with shit lasershows and shit eBay lasers. So we'll lose a lot of "bottom end" customers I guess. But the ones that matter to us are loyal and recognise that a good lasershow requires experience and decent gear to produce, and will keep coming back to us even though we are more expensive. We still have our fair share of gigs that bring in thousands, however a multi-thousand dollar show demands lots of lasers, and lots of colour, lots of experience to bring it all together, and one form of innovation or another.
Lastly, why the fuck would a hobbyist need a 2.5Watt RGB laser ? Are you running birthday parties in your 67 car garage ?
DISCLAIMER: the sentiments in this post are not actually directed at anybody in particular here. "You" refers to the generic hobbyist.