Parents, have your kids got a laser pointer?

[Magilla]

Or maybe just take it off them

 

*IF* you consider your kids to be morons. If not, then there really isn't anything to worry about.

[slimsid2000]

Love the way they call him "a waster" in the first words of the article

 

Sums him up though doesn't it.

[L00b]

That is indeed one way of banning them - Though (IMO) it's a silly way.

I don't necessarily disagree...but

Laser designators are indeed a part of targetting systems - both the little red dot kind and the type used with Laser-Guided bombs.

 

Are people permitted to possess and use CD and DVD players in Ireland? They too have a Class B laser. And that laser is quite powerful enough to cause irreparable eye damage.

 

What about mice? Are they (like snakes) prohibited in Ireland? Does your computer have a wireless optical mouse? Or have you upgraded to a laser mouse? (Far more precise ... and they'll burn your eyes out if you look at them.)

You should calm down a tad (IMO)

 

With reference to Ireland, I speak specifically of laser pointers (pens and the like). Because

 

(i) these are designed to emit/project a lightbeam to the outside of the laser device in normal use (it's a pointer - duh!) unlike closed units like CD players and/or optical/laser mice where the laser is never visible in normal use...) and

 

(ii) these are easily mounted to a firearm (no need for picatinny rails, just use tape...ever tried to mount a PC mouse to a sidearm? )

 

As an aside, green lasers are more dangerous than red lasers to the human eye (a green laser has a shorter wavelength, its intensity/frequency is higher).

 

Personally, I just don't see the point (!) of them - period.

[dukedum]

The laser pointer is really dangerous,it can blind people's eyes in seconds.

 

Oh dear!

[munky]

I don't necessarily disagree...but

You should calm down a tad (IMO)

 

With reference to Ireland, I speak specifically of laser pointers (pens and the like). Because

 

(i) these are designed to emit/project a lightbeam to the outside of the laser device in normal use (it's a pointer - duh!) unlike closed units like CD players and/or optical/laser mice where the laser is never visible in normal use...) and

 

(ii) these are easily mounted to a firearm (no need for picatinny rails, just use tape...ever tried to mount a PC mouse to a sidearm? )

 

As an aside, green lasers are more dangerous than red lasers to the human eye (a green laser has a shorter wavelength, its intensity/frequency is higher).

 

Personally, I just don't see the point (!) of them - period.

 

His reply was as calm and rational as the day is long.

 

Knee jerk cries of "BAN THEM" (usually from DMRs) is often the case when simple discipline and education should be the order of the day.

 

I have one and had several in the past. Even had one as a teenager and used to wind up the old chuff across the road when he was walking his dog, by occasionally flashing it just infront of where he was walking.

 

He only got annoyed cos he couldn't tell where it was coming from.

 

It was harmless fun, as I knew not to point it at his or the dogs eyes.

 

Take solace in the fact that muppets who abuse these are either knowingly abusing them, in which case karma will be round eventually to claim their abuse back or irrepairably thick to not know what they're doing, in which case Darwin will have their genes out of our pool in no time.

[charlie9865]

Wouldn't it be better to teach your son to use a pocket knife responsibly?

 

I don't want him to even look at one, knifes are dangerous regardless on size. Plus my son has autistic tendencies and the ways he goes off I would not trust him with the butter knife let alone a pen knife.

[L00b]

His reply was as calm and rational as the day is long.

Not when you compare a laser pointer to a CD/DVD player or a mouse

Knee jerk cries of "BAN THEM" (usually from DMRs) is often the case when simple discipline and education should be the order of the day.

While in many (most) instances I wholeheartedly agree with this, in this case I don't (and you will note that I don't propose to 'ban them', just put their ownership and use under more scrutiny, essentially limiting their ownership and use to people who have a genuine use/need for them - just like RIFs).

 

I don't consider my point to be a knee-jerk reaction either, having been extensively involved about these with the Irish Department of Justice itself (and necessarily considered the issue at length, including earlier precedents in the UK, across Europe, in the US and further afield, all similar to the substance of the article in the OP). I was actually arguing the other way with them (that they should not be considered a component of a firerarm), since we wanted to allow their use in milsim scenarios.

I have one and had several in the past.

That's what people can say about everything that's been banned at some stage or another. Responsible use by the few is always outweighed by the interest of the many. Unfortunately.

[babyboom]

I misread the thread title and for a second was thinking "whats so bad about laser printers"?!

 

Yup, me too!

[Funky_Gibbon]

Last year someone was using one of these on me as I walked through Parson Cross at 6am. Fortunately I knew what it was and the danger so I just kept my head down rather than trying to spot the idiot.

[AJ sheffield]

Scaremongers