Should Age Verification Be Required?

I just got to thinking about this,

Shouldn't these companys that sell high-powered lasers be required to verify that the buyer is 18 or older? I know its an extra step, but im seeing more and more younger kids buying these things and that scares me just a little. You guys might think that its a bit extreme, but i think that since a laser has the power to take away your's and others eyesight, it requires MUCH more caution then your average toy!

What do you guys think? Should it be a law that laser companys do voice confirmation?

well I dont think it would be easy to make a law pass globally
since most laser companies are in china
and if it were up to the companies themselves, obviously they wont do it because that means less $$$

that could work, but it would ruin it for me, and all the other "responsible" kids that use lasers. i don't think many "young" kids are going to buy $1000 lasers, then just shine them in their eyes.

I have noticed that many of the younger people are just as responsible as some of us older folks. Some even more so.

I think a better solution would be to have a disclaimer with all the warnings included, that everyone would need to sign and mail back in to the company. This could also be scanned and e-mailed, or faxed in.

My little cousin who is 5 is down visiting right now - and my daughter let him use her Core. He was SUPER careful with it, was very intrigued, and was more than respectful of others around him. Should he have Herc 600 ? Most likely not - but....BUT....If correct information is handed out, and correct supervision is done - then I have no issueswith young children using lasers. The problem I have is that the PARENTS do not take the time to teach their children about the dangers of what is around them - in a perfect society, no need for a law like that. In todays society ? Most likely it should be a requirement - the parents dont give a crap about what their kids are doing, etc...I know that is a long winded answer, but it is much too complicated a subject to summarize briefly.

well said. it seems that most people are very responsible with their lasers, but then every once in a while we get things saying that there was a laser pointed at a plane. (that seems to be happening more often, and not just kids!)

so an age restriction would solve some of the problem, but not all, plus getting something like that to actually be put into effect is not going to happen any time soon.

i think age verification shouldnt be required but maybe 13 years of age should be enforced because at 13 more people are more mature and responsible.

Slightly off topic, I use a bow and arrow for work. My son, who was 10 at the time wanted one of his own so I made him one. He was shown how to use it, told that it was just for target use and not to point it at any living thing.

I broke it in half in front of him when I happened to catch him drawing a bead on the family cat.........he has turned into a responsible level headed 22 year old now but like all kids he had to try things out, but back then he could not be trusted to be responsible with a weapon unsupervised. I feel the same applies to lasers.
*my 2 peneth*

Regards rog8811

Im gonna agree with Senkat and rog on this one, in that I dont think an age requirement is necessarily required, but perhaps if your under 18 have your legal guardian give the OK to at least put the burden of safety on the parent or guiardian. This way, the parent or guardian will know of the dangers, and if they choose to allow their child to purchase or use a high powered laser, they will be responsible to make sure their child uses it properly and safely. After 18, thats all up to the kid However, similar to what rog said, my father was a hunter. He had 2 shotguns and a rifle down in his workshop in the basement. I am one of four kids, and NEVER once did we touch my dads guns by ourselves, but whenever we wanted to look at them or whatever we just had to ask my dad, he would take them down, show us how they worked, and more importantly, told us how dangerous they could be. He showed us all of the safety features, and made it so that even as young children we had respect for the power and high potential of danger that firearms can have, and we never screwed around with guns. So I think a philosophy like that would work just fine with little kids, as Senkat said. However, liek I stated I think there should almost be a "permission slip" type deal for the parents to sigh to at least acknowledge that their child is trying to purchase such a potentially dangerous "toy" as a high powered laser.

-Dough

SenKat said:

My little cousin who is 5 is down visiting right now - and my daughter let him use her Core. He was SUPER careful with it, was very intrigued, and was more than respectful of others around him. Should he have Herc 600 ? Most likely not - but....BUT....If correct information is handed out, and correct supervision is done - then I have no issueswith young children using lasers. The problem I have is that the PARENTS do not take the time to teach their children about the dangers of what is around them - in a perfect society, no need for a law like that. In todays society ? Most likely it should be a requirement - the parents dont give a crap about what their kids are doing, etc...I know that is a long winded answer, but it is much too complicated a subject to summarize briefly.

Click to expand...

That is exactly how I feel about this matter... Although, What annoys me is that these ignorant parents are the ones who run around after the kid is hurt and want to sue the company for selling the kid a powerful laser! "What were you thinking?" UGH... makes me want to kick them... Such people do not deserve the parental label.

Sadly though, the rest of the mature and wise society have to put up with the crap of the many ignorant and careless mistakes as such...

--DDL

This is a valid point, and on Laserglow's Company Policies it clearly states that customers must be 18 years or older to purchase a laser. However, age verification as an online business is very difficult. How could we justify to all of our customers that they have to fax us their driver's licence, passport, etc, for verification? I would be suspicious of any online business that asked me for enough information to open a bank account in my name. Even voice verification is tough because not everybody sounds their age.

How do you determine from an online purchase if a person is young or old? Almost all of our transactions are by credit card anyways, which leads one to believe that the person is an adult or they at least have their parent's permission to use the card. The fellow who was just arrested in the States for shining lasers at planes was 47 years old, not a child.... So, while I see the point here, this is a very difficult problem for an online retailer because we don't actually "see" most of our customers. It's not like selling cigarettes at the corner store, where we can just ask for ID and deny minors... Any thoughts?

N00B said:

I just got to thinking about this,

Shouldn't these companys that sell high-powered lasers be required to verify that the buyer is 18 or older? I

Click to expand...

Do you mean there should be an addition to existing regulations? So companies selling IIIb lasers in compliance with Title 21 (like laserglow) would also be required to verify age?

It would seem a little silly to place a regulation on something that is imported illegally, so I'll assume you don't mean companies like Dragon, WL, and the like.

If you live within the USA and do a search you'll find that some states make it illegal for a minor to buy [and own I believe] a laser over 5 mw. There is a list of states somewhere on the web with applicable laws. You can do a search by individual state.

A lot of stupid adults/kids out here online. Age can be deceiving. So if you put the age restriction, you are doing both- limiting good kids experience and education, and not restricting stupid adults.

I think there should a basic questionnaire prior to purchase of class 3b > lasers that approves your laser intents and mentality. Not perfect solution by far, but it might reduce number ignorant customers.