Anyone know what the laws are by state? Legal to own? Not legal to cell to civilians? Legal in nj? Other states?

AFAIK there are no laws on the *Ownership of a lasers. I know u can buy them off line, the ones that can burn paper... that's about all they can do at this point. The legality of lasers usually comes down to the use, not ownership.

Everything ive seen seems to limit what you can import into the US - at least handheld or gun-mounted ones - to 5mW. Industrial and scientific models obviously can be more powerful. I believe it is the FDA limiting them...at least thats what ive seen on various foreign websites advertising 50mW laser pointers and such. Im sure you can import them illegally, but at your own risk.

Only 5mw? This one's 1W

http://www.wickedlas...ies-113-63.html

I have a 1W arctic blue laser and a 100mw green laser. Laws are all around their use. I'm scared to use the 1W laser. I bought a pair of $70 laser safety goggles and only use it in my closed garage. An accidental swipe across the eyes, or a bounceback reflection is enough to cause permanent eye injury or blindness from great distances. There is also evidence that just looking at the scattered blue light, or the beam can cause eye problems. Apparently the eye has a hard time with blue, and it uses some kind of rechargeable chemical to detect it. The blue lasers are such an intense blue, that your eye uses all of its blue eye juice chemical up, and can cause color perception issues until it can recharge its store. It's ok once in awhile, but repeated exposure to the radiation in that blue wavelength could start causing some long term funkyness. I'm probably getting it all wrong, but that's how I remember it.

 

The 100mw green laser is much more fun. Still have to be very careful, but you are much less likely to cause damage from a reflection. A direct shot or swipe is still very dangerous.

 

I have a few 5mw green lasers which are fun to play with the dog. Should still be careful, and avoid any eye contact.

I'm specifically asking about the ones that mount on the m4 with the IR. sorry for not being specific. I think they are from insight technologies

I'm specifically asking about the ones that mount on the m4 with the IR. sorry for not being specific. I think they are from insight technologies

 

Lasers are not controlled at all. As long as you dont light up people randomly, or aircraft, you're GTG

As mentioned lasers aren't regulated. You can buy one's powerful enough to cut wood/plastic and even metal if you want and have the money (look up DIY laser cutters to see what I mean). As for laser pointers just don't point them at vehicles, especially aircraft (federal offense... FAA particularly hates this). If you get an NIR laser pointer keep in mind you won't be able to see it without NVG which also makes it easier for you to accidentally look into it or shine it in people's eyes. Even "eye safe" lasers should not be pointed at eyes more than a split of a second.

Cool. Not that I have any use for a laser. Or would even know where to buy one. But thought i'd ask

Lasers are certainly regulated in many ways, but simple ownership is generally not unless you have some local law beyond sales.

 

- 5mW lasers

- 10mW lasers (the standard before the switch to 5 thing)

- ("near")IR completely invisible lasers designed for NV that do not have the required visible light indicator lamp required by FDA

- 20mW green diode laser

- 100 mW green diode laser on a MAX-11

- and a 250 Watt (not mW) optically pumped YAG laser in the visible green spectrum. Water cooled.

 

These are things I've dreamed about recently

As mentioned lasers aren't regulated. You can buy one's powerful enough to cut wood/plastic and even metal if you want and have the money (look up DIY laser cutters to see what I mean). As for laser pointers just don't point them at vehicles, especially aircraft (federal offense... FAA particularly hates this). If you get an NIR laser pointer keep in mind you won't be able to see it without NVG which also makes it easier for you to accidentally look into it or shine it in people's eyes. Even "eye safe" lasers should not be pointed at eyes more than a split of a second.

 

Pilots hate it even more. I've been hit with laser light four times since I started flying, it can range from being a slight nuisance to blindingly bright. I have a friend in Florida who managed to get the exact location of a guy who was repeatedly shining one at him, when the cops showed up at this guys house he wasn't too happy. Lasers are cool though, especially the ones that can pop a balloon or light a match, but I don't want one in my eyes. The unfortunate part with these things like with other gadgets is, if you get enough idiots doing stupid crap with them some politician will find a way to put heavy regulations on them ruining the fun for everyone else.

These lasers are so bright they can beam a plane a couple thousand feet up in the sky in broad daylight?

 

Damn!

Not sure about that, every time they got me it was dark outside.

These lasers are so bright they can beam a plane a couple thousand feet up in the sky in broad daylight?

 

Damn!

 

Yes daylight or not has little to do with it (in all fairness I'm sure it's far more disturbing at night but it's equally blinding during the day). Lasers are coherent light, meaning that all the energy is concentrate in a "straight line" as much as that's physically possible with commercial hardware. They do have some slight divergence (lower quality laser the more divergence) which means that a couple thousand feet away they will no longer be a dot but anywhere from a 10 inches to several feet across of quite powerful light. When that hits the windshield of an aircraft which has many thousands of micro scratches from interfacing with the elements it will essentially light up the whole windshield and basically blind you. An experienced pilot will then ignore the visual and fly instruments until visibility is restored but it's still amazingly disorienting. As far as I'm concerned, assholes that shine lasers at aircraft should be hit with wasp spray straight in the face and see how they enjoy that.

Wow that is crazy! Thanks for the explanation. I can see how that can be really irritating..

As far as I'm concerned, assholes that shine lasers at aircraft should be hit with wasp spray straight in the face and see how they enjoy that.

 

That punishment seems far too generous...

This may be a stupid question but...how does the person shining the laser actually know they hit the plane with it?

I think most people that shine the lasers into planes/helicopters are doing it purposely.

How do they figure out where the laser comes from when it hits the plane

I guessing if the are low enough they can use land marks to ge ta general area of where they are, or if they fly over use their GPS coordiantes to pinpoint the location. Like I said I'm not 100% sure about that.

This may be a stupid question but...how does the person shining the laser actually know they hit the plane with it?

 

There are usually plenty of particulars in the atmosphere so that the laser beam can be fairly visible through the air. Then they can see it glint off the aircraft especially if they use binoculars or something.

We're in a helicopter and typically fly around at 1000-2000 feet. At that altitude you can get a really good idea where it's coming from. We have also marked our position on the gps for future reference.

How do they figure out where the laser comes from when it hits the plane

 

Usually it's hard for them to maintain hitting the windshield but they are stupid enough and dickish enough to continue trying to hit the airplane with it. And like I said above there are plenty of particulars in the atmosphere such that you can literally see the laser line through the air so you can just follow it back to the source. Then it's just a matter of describing to police the house/place it's coming from and it's really not that hard from the air to either use gps + some landmarks or even just landmarks to pinpoint the location.

 

Plus again stupidity enters the equation and the perpetrators usually keep doing it and the cops can see the laser beam in the air from the house.

So then is it safe to assume that they shine these at small planes flying at low altitudes? I guess that a commercial jet would be too far away to hit accurately, see that it was hit, and for the pilot/crew to pinpoint where it came from...unless it was low for takeoff/landing. Excuse the ignorance...part of it is due to the inability to comprehend what makes this fun. Not only does this lack any kind of redeeming value, it puts lives at risk. I mean hell...at least larceny nets the thief a tangible object when the act is done, so although I cannot condone the action, I can at least understand it.

I know we're talking lasers here, but ir as a light source can be dangerous too. Your iris closes up and you squint when someone hits your eye with a flashlight, but with ir sources your iris stays wide open so you get it all on your retina. Figured I'd just mention it.

Oh yeah, and I know that specific wavelengths can be used to blind fighter pilots and the government does buy shields to block some bands of light as much as possible.

So then is it safe to assume that they shine these at small planes flying at low altitudes? I guess that a commercial jet would be too far away to hit accurately, see that it was hit, and for the pilot/crew to pinpoint where it came from...unless it was low for takeoff/landing. Excuse the ignorance...part of it is due to the inability to comprehend what makes this fun. Not only does this lack any kind of redeeming value, it puts lives at risk. I mean hell...at least larceny nets the thief a tangible object when the act is done, so although I cannot condone the action, I can at least understand it.

 

"Usually" it's done by retards who are pissed off that planes fly over their house or some bs and they think they're going to "teach" those damn pilots a lesson... Sometimes it's just retarded kids "playing" around with laser pointers. Yes a commercial plane up high is extremely hard to hit, but any plane is much easier to hit when it's landing or taking off (which just makes it that much more dangerous since those are also a plane's most vulnerable times).

"Usually" it's done by retards who are pissed off that planes fly over their house or some bs and they think they're going to "teach" those damn pilots a lesson...

This has got to be one of the WORST excuses for an "activity" that I've ever heard. By the way, thanks for taking the time to answer all my questions.

This has got to be one of the WORST excuses for an "activity" that I've ever heard. By the way, thanks for taking the time to answer all my questions.

 

No problem

Got hit with a green laser tonight over Queens, reported it with location see if anything happens, doubting it.

My modest knowledge of the subject:

 

1. The lasers used by hooligans to blind the pilots are of GREEN variety. The green beams are actually visible in the air (esp at night), and are customarily used for stargazing, as well as light shows at rock concerts and such. Because they're visible, the hooligans can easily train them on aircraft. But just like tracers work both ways, so the pilots can see where on the ground the beam is coming from.

 

2. (Not really sure about this one) The variety that is only visible using IR goggles is actually the regular RED laser, commonly used in laser pointers for presentations and lolcat Youtube videos. Those beams actually also have a significant IR spectrum component. So, same designator that produces a "red dot" also produces a beam visible in IR. Or so I gather.