hmm a tad worrying I use a laser pen with ma kittens ( that I got from pets at home)
we use them in the operating theatre
These will be the legal low power ones that you use for pointing at something in the same room. The article says the one this guy had has a range of 5 miles, meaning its a very powerful and most likely illegal one.
With the powerful lasers, instead of just a dot on the thing you are pointing at, you get an actual beam, so aiming is actually very easy as you just hold the button down and move the beam around.That guy must have impressive aim.
I've got a powerful laser as well and like the guy in the article, I was curious to see how far it would go, but instead of a police helicopter, I choose a tree in an empty field about a mile away. Shining it into the cockpit of an aircraft is retarded.