Guns n' Lasers...
Yep -
Guns' n Lasers is the discussion here, not Guns n' Roses
(Although some of their songs could make for some pretty cool beam shows!)
As a proud owner of both types of hardware, I find it interesting that quite frequently lately, if a discussion comes up concerning audience scanning with lasers, someone makes a comparison to that and gun ownership in the USA. It seems that usually those making that comparison live in a country with strict regulation, if not outright ban, of gun ownership, and, if I were a "betting man", would be willing to wager that those same folks have very little, if any, actual experience dealing with firearms in any capacity.
Frankly, I'm a little perplexed with the guns / lasers comparison!
So, with that in mind, here goes my 50 cents worth (costs more now due to the crappy economy...):
Guns, to the best of my knowledge, have never been produced or marketed as anything other than weapons, and anyone old enough to go to school probably knows that. Those weapons can be used quite safely for a wide variety of hunting and sport shooting events, which is actually the reason behind owning them for most LEGAL owners of firearms in the USA and other countries. Some states - mine included - do allow properly-trained citizens to carry handguns on them for personal protection, provided VERY STRICT guidelines are followed. We do not walk around with guns strapped to our hips like something out of a old western TV show or movie - that may have been the case in some parts of the country over 100 years ago, but certainly not now!!
There are parts of our country where there seems to be huge problem with illegal guns being used for criminal intent. Generally (but not always), these are going to be big-city problems concentrated around the worse areas of the city - the "hood", "ghetto", "gangland", whatever you want to call it. HOWEVER - I've traveled around the world enough to know that there are areas in cities around the world that have similar "avoid at all cost" areas, whether guns are involved or not!
Unfortunately, bad things can happen when guns are involved, usually as the result of emotionally-driven aggression, carelessness, or just flat-out stupidity. But, then again, the same thing can be said for owners and operators of automobiles - the accidents / incidents that occur are usually the result of emotionally-driven aggression, carelessness, or just flat-out stupidity. Unfortunatley, far MORE people are involved (both numerically and percentage-wise) in vehicle-related incidents than those involving firearms, to the point that while gun-related incidents are generally still sensationalized by the media, most vehicle incidents are so common that they get comparitively little attention. Fortunately, the majority of legal owners of both firearms AND automobiles operate them safely and as intended (although it often doesn't seem that way during rush hour!!
As far as public use goes, I don't know of a single event where guns would actually be used in public where EVERYONE wasn't made VERY aware of the potential dangers involved. Guns are not used in events where you knowingly just show up and start shooting - there are always very specific controls on who shoots where, and when!! I can't even BEGIN to imagine a scenario where guns were advertised and utilized as part of entertainment for a night club or other general-public oriented entertainment venue!!
Finally, concerning comments that have been made along the way concerning the USA's "love of guns" -
As was mentioned in previous threads, gun ownership was one of the founding principals of our country. While it has been disputed along the way, that principal was one of the big reasons most of us don't speak with British, French, or German accents (no offense intended to any of our European friends). And, like most of the world, we have had our share of internal strife, and like far too many parts of the world, have been victims of cowardly terrorists organizations that have absolutely no value for human life. But, in our relatively short existence as a nation, we have never been invaded by the armies of some maniacal wacked-out dictator hell-bent on world domination, or had to suffer the effects of some attempted military coup led by some beret-wearing cigar-chomping 3rd-world wanna-be with a Napolean complex!
So, I'm still a bit perplexed how guns tie in with lasers, but here's what I know:
Lasers, for our purposes, are marketed as an ENTERTAINMENT source, frequently made available to the public. As such, the public is generally going to assume that the entertainment is going to be safe for the audience, unless told otherwise. How often, in a club setting, is the audience warned that lasers will be used, and their eyesight might be harmed?
The general population knows VERY little about lasers, other than they look really cool! Most are not going to realize the potential dangers of IMPROPERLY utilized scanning techniques (audience scanning or otherwise). As such, the USA has VERY strict regulations of the LEGAL use of lasers in entertainment, whether audience scanning is involved or not. Audience scanning IS LEGAL in the USA, but the regulations that apply to audience scanning are so restrictive that very few laser operators pursue that option - but are still QUITE capable of putting on some very good laser shows!
The perception for many of us on this forum is that while audience scanning looks cool, it would appear that outside the USA it frequently occurs with little or no regard for the safety of the vision of the audience. Many of the pictures that are posted from events around the world look awesome - but at the same time, many of them APPEAR to be utilizing audience scanning techniques that probably pay very little attention to the safe exposure levels of the people in the audience!
Also, as we all know, this forum is a GREAT place for information sharing from folks all over the world. Audience scanning has, and probably will continue to be, a subject that gets a LOT of attention. I would think that given the numbers of photos of events involving audience scanning that get posted here, if "proper" and safe audience scanning precautions were being followed, they would be openly discussed.
Having said all that -
I still don't get the comparison between lasers and gun ownership in the USA....
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Originally Posted by mccarrot
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