Laws on laser pens

Maccy · 2 Dec 2007 at 21:49

There was a thread recently about laser pens and who owned one etc, just wondered what the laws were with regards to shining them and where you can and can't?

For instance, is it unlawful to shine it into someone elses property etc?

-Colli$ion- · 2 Dec 2007 at 21:58

no particular laws on laser pens, lasers are currently unregulated i believe, as you can buy powerful lasers from wicked lasers.

using lasers in a unreasonable way, may be governed by another law, shining them say at the sky would be an ok use 'star gazing'.

maybe disturbing the peace or something, if you use it for annoying people.

Werewolf · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:01

IIRC there isn't a specific law, but depending on where/how you use them you could end up being charged under a variety of laws (never use one around a VIP for a laugh...).

Red and White · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:03

pointless items that are only going to be used foolishly.

-Colli$ion- · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:06

Red and White said:
pointless items that are only going to be used foolishly.

lasers have huge uses within physics and entertainment, laser pens however are low powered/quality toys.

Red and White · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:07

-Colli$ion- said:
lasers have huge uses within physics and entertainment, laser pens however are low powered/quality toys.

yes im referring to laser pens obviously. only going to be used by kids to shine in peoples eyes. just like at West Ham yesterday.

Kemik · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:13

Red and White said:
pointless items that are only going to be used foolishly.

They're useful for teachers, lecturers, business people doing presentations, etc.

Red and White · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:15

Kemik said:
They're useful for teachers, lecturers, business people doing presentations, etc.

not really a necessity for any of those people are they.

HaX · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:21

As someone who is already blind in one eye, I have to say that I find the recent developments in the laser pen market rather disturbing.

When laser pens first came out, most of them were only 0.5 or 1 MW, and would only blind people if they were exposed to the beam for a prolonged period of time.

Now there are 10 MW models available on various web and auction sites, capable of burning/cutting through paper etc. The effect of someone shining a 10 MW laser pen into your eye would be instant retinal obliteration and blindness.

Very worrying IMHO.

Maccy · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:22

Interesting to see people's response to this, thanks

Kol · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:23

Red and White said:
not really a necessity for any of those people are they.

He said useful, no one said that they were a necessity :confused:

but they certainly are very useful in presentations. One of my lecturer had a very high powered green one. It was interesting, but kept our attention.

Red and White · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:23

HaX said:
As someone who is already blind in one eye, I have to say that I find the recent developments in the laser pen market rather disturbing.

When laser pens first came out, most of them were only 0.5 or 1 MW, and would only blind people if they were exposed to the beam for a prolonged period of time.

Now there are 10 MW models available on various web and auction sites, capable of burning/cutting through paper etc. The effect of someone shining a 10 MW laser pen into your eye would be instant retinal obliteration and blindness.

Very worrying IMHO.

they need banning as soon as possible. its very worrying

Red and White · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:24

Kol said:
He said useful, no one said that they were a necessity but they certainly are very useful in presentations. One of my lecturer had a very high powered green one. It was interesting, but kept our attention.

so if they arent a necessity that means im right theres no need for them at all.

toys for chavs

HaX · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:29

Red and White said:
so if they arent a necessity that means im right theres no need for them at all.

toys for chavs

Completely agree with you there..... When I was in my last term of school (summer 98), a lot of the retarted chav kids had them and enjoyed shining them at people in assemblies etc. The wierd thing about having a laser shone into your eye is that you can't really see where its coming from straight away, it just fills your field of vision with whatever colour it is shining - eg red.

I have just found a 50 MW green laser pen on a well known auction site.

If someone shone one of those into your eye even for a split second, you would definitely be looking at permanent blindness in the targeted eye!

Aod · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:31

shining a laser at overhead aircraft is likeley to cause big strong men to break your door down and arrest you, by the way.

Whiskas · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:32

They are however an excellent tool for demonstrating interference and diffraction effects imo.

I think all self-respecting physicists should carry around a laser pen and a selection of diffraction gratings

Kol · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:36

Red and White said:
so if they arent a necessity that means im right theres no need for them at all.

toys for chavs

I think that's a little OTT. In my opinion I disagree that you're right. They serve a purpose for those mentioned above.

Red and White said:
yes im referring to laser pens obviously. only going to be used by kids to shine in peoples eyes. just like at West Ham yesterday.

You say they're only used by chavs to shine in peoples eyes, yet we have shown that are used my sensible adults with a purpose.

Azagoth · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:41

Red and White said:
toys for chavs

Just be thankful that chavs aren't intelligent enough to realise that there's a pretty powerful red laser diode sitting in their PC's DVD drive and it's easy to extract it and set it up as a 'pointer'.

Gaverick · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:42

I think lasers are a necessity is lectures. One of my lecture halls is absolutely massive with numerous projects putting images 15ft up the wall. When going through code or formulas if the lecturer didn't have a laser to point at which part he is talking about I would be completely lost.

Kol · 2 Dec 2007 at 22:49

Gaverick said:
I think lasers are a necessity is lectures. One of my lecture halls is absolutely massive with numerous projects putting images 15ft up the wall. When going through code or formulas if the lecturer didn't have a laser to point at which part he is talking about I would be completely lost.

Precisely. With the kind of images we have to look at (the brain and it's relevant area we may be discussing at any one time) it can be impossible to describe the area without somehow pointing it. If they didn't have a laser pointer, the only other option would be strapping fishing poles together, given the size of the auditorium, and that's not exactly ideal now