Laser laws in Arizona

Hey laser ppl, I just wanted to know what the laser laws were in Arizona.
I have tried googling but to no avail...

Arizona Revised Statutes - Title 13 Criminal Code - Chapter 12 Assault And Related Offenses - Legal Research

its pretty much the same for every state... just dont shine at police

Hydrojo said:

Hey laser ppl, I just wanted to know what the laser laws were in Arizona.
I have tried googling but to no avail...

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for ANYTHING laser other then pointers, you need a 380$ per year permit and a yearly inspection. That covers industrial and show and medical and academic research. They have full time inspectors in each of the major cities that travel. I've delt with them and they are the most proactive in the nation, and they CAN seize equipment and fine you, because they are attached to Department of Public Safety. What you do in your basement they do not care, but do business or take it public, and you need a permit. And they have a badge and can use it.

If your commercially selling gear, you need a license too.

My best friend runs a show company there, and they give a new meaning to zealous enforcement.

Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency 4814 South 40th Street Phoenix

LSRFAQ said:

for ANYTHING laser other then pointers, you need a 380$ per year permit and a yearly inspection. That covers industrial and show and medical and academic research. They have full time inspectors in each of the major cities that travel. I've delt with them and they are the most proactive in the nation, and they CAN seize equipment and fine you, because they are attached to Department of Public Safety. What you do in your basement they do not care, but do business or take it public, and you need a permit. And they have a badge and can use it.

If your commercially selling gear, you need a license too.

My best friend runs a show company there, and they give a new meaning to zealous enforcement.

Arizona Radiation Regulatory Agency 4814 South 40th Street Phoenix

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What is a "laser pointer" would anything handheld be considered a laser pointer?

Also, what about selling high power (2W+) lasers in Arizona?

Less than 5 mW dont worry unless you are doing the stoopid with it.

Of all the 50 States Texas has the strictest rules- regs and laws we must pay 400$ per laser per projector used in shows EVERY two years- Enforcement is (so far) very lax- the only state that is worse is..... ARIZONA ! yeah

LSRFAQ has it perfectly right..--

Federal Law?? 'intentionaly lasing ANY aircraft is a fed. offence-never taken lightly and they are pros at finding the guilty parties. AND anytime you hand YOUR laser over to some idiot you are every bit as guilty- best rule ..either use in inside your house or WAY out in the country and NEVER EVER near any airport- pleading ignorance of the law and they will just add the offence of being a dumbass to your charges.
All federal agents have their sense of humor surgically removed.

Pilots are NOT encouraged to report any lasing-- they are REQUIRED to. They also must report just seeing any laser no matter where it is pointed, and , while not as bad it is still something one needs to keep in mind.

Recently I know of a member who just wanted to take a pic of his new laser shinning on a far off stop signat night- a police car was parked nearby and the guy lost his laser(prolly forever) and very nearly went to jail- fear not only what you see but what can see you. Ever heard of a firearm with a laser??
many police officers will assume that any laser they see MAY be attached to a weapon.

IF we are NOT taking an active role in stopping as much of these activities as we can we WILL lose our right to own lasers and who will be somewhat to blame?? not me or LSRFAQ...

WORST PLACE for reported laseings ... Dallas/Fort Worth.

AND its criminal and stupid to sell any laser to any minor or someone that is ignorant. When the worst happens you will not be dealing with the minor but, instead, with the parents and their lawyer.

you may be treated just like someone who has provided a gun that killed or injured some one- Lawsuits?? no need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt-
Preponderance of the evidence is all that is needed.

Right now there are threads going on here that just by reading them you can clearly tell that some should NEVER own a laser. We have had threads about lasing animals- pets- neighbors- security cameras- stop light cameras and even police.. wth??

hk ( yeah I'm pissed off!)

Pointing a laser when a plane is nearby is a felony. So is it when at people (whether in veh/house or not) or animal is nearby. Don't give anyone a cause for concern. Here is an annual comparison of the number of incidents reported to FAA in recent years:
•2012: 3,482 incidents (9.5 per night)
•2011: 3,591 incidents (9.8 per night)
•2010: 2,836 incidents (7.7 per night)
•2009: 1,527 incidents (4.2 per night)
•2008: 949 incidents (2.6 per night)
•2007: 639 incidents (1.8 per night)
•2006: 384 incidents (1.1 per night)
•2005: 283 incidents (0.78 per night)
•2004: 46 incidents (0.13 per night) involving an unknown number of aircraft.
Note: FAA mandated that pilots report incidents using Advisory Circular 70-2, beginning January 19 2005. Before this date, pilot reporting was voluntary.

It may still very well be a felony but now its also a Federal Offence IIRC.
"Pointing a laser when a plane is nearby is a felony."
^^ If I read this correctly its a felony even if not aimed intentionally at aircraft. And a Fed. Offence if it is.

hk


Thanks for adding those stats-

in just five years it went from 238 to
2,836.

The saving grace is the 3% drop in incidents between 2011 and 2012. Perhaps, through more forum education, these stats will improve even further. Indeed, great power begets equal responsibility from us all.

Well, being a private pilot, myself, I would never think of pointing a laser at a plane. I'm currently going to school at Embry Riddle, and there's almost always an airplane flying over. The school is literally under the traffic pattern for one of the runways.

On a different note, I have heard that there are actually cameras that they can use to take photos of where lasers are, on the ground - and get the cops sent out ASAP. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, this onion article is priceless (but has a lot of truth to it).

OrionBLF said:

Pointing a laser when a plane is nearby is a felony. So is it when at people (whether in veh/house or not) or animal is nearby. Don't give anyone a cause for concern. Here is an annual comparison of the number of incidents reported to FAA in recent years:
•2012: 3,482 incidents (9.5 per night)
•2011: 3,591 incidents (9.8 per night)
•2010: 2,836 incidents (7.7 per night)
•2009: 1,527 incidents (4.2 per night)
•2008: 949 incidents (2.6 per night)
•2007: 639 incidents (1.8 per night)
•2006: 384 incidents (1.1 per night)
•2005: 283 incidents (0.78 per night)
•2004: 46 incidents (0.13 per night) involving an unknown number of aircraft.
Note: FAA mandated that pilots report incidents using Advisory Circular 70-2, beginning January 19 2005. Before this date, pilot reporting was voluntary.

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Sadly given their limited mental acuity the federal authorities can do one piece of very basic math.

The exponential function.

Most large bodies and organisations don't look at incidents on a single level (and you can be sure those chimps who claim to represent us can't do basic math) but will be looking at the increments on an annual basis then plugging in a few numbers, getting scared, getting vocal then looking to act.

Take one year 2010 - 2011, incidents went from 2,836 - 3,591 giving a 26% annual growth rate. Avoiding the actual calculation we end up with a rough doubling time of just under 3 years.

At each doubling time the total of incidents per 3 years will exceed the sum of all the previous incidents.

Why is that so scary?

Simple, at some point the government will act, it's not a debate or a question or a matter of will they won't they it's a matter of running the numbers and coming to a very simply mathematical conclusion. Have a look at the 3 year rate figures based on the above doubling time.

1st year 3,591
4th year 7,182
7th year 14,364
10th year 28,728
13th year 57,456
16th year 114,912

So in as little as one human childhood of 16 years we have gone from 3,000 to over 100,000, we will all say..."well this can't happen" and that true, it can't but will it stop because as a hobby we choose to stop it or will the government step in and stop it for us?

It all comes down to presentation, if the local paper says "crime increase at 7% per year" none of us will take much notice but if the same paper has a bold headline "CRIME DOUBLES IN 10 YEARS" more people will sit up and take notice when the two rates are EXACTLY the same.

If you really want to play with numbers calculate one human lifetime for the above 3 year doubling effect......

I'll save you the work, the number ends up being larger than the number of aircraft of all kinds that have ever been made by the human species.

So the simple question is

who stops this?

Us or them?

cheers

Dave

+3 FOR DAVE--

Oh yeah... they are experts at locating the source of lasers- any idiot who is dumb enough to even lase an aircraft is also too stoopid to NOT do it from his or his buddys house.

video is often taken and make compelling evidence in court- The Feds are looking for violators to make examples.

just the fact that it went from a required report of any lasers aimed at any aircraft to a manditory reporting of ANY laser being used within sight of every pilot is very telling--

This will only get worse- but we should never be discouraged to step up and take an active role- NEVER...

hak

Thanks Hakz I wish the maths lied...but it never does

cheers

Dave

Wow, those are some alarming figured. I would be interested to see the Australian statistics. I remember reading a customs document a while ago that stated there was no noticeable decrease in laser/aircraft incidents before and after prohibition/restriction.

OzLasers said:

Wow, those are some alarming figured. I would be interested to see the Australian statistics. I remember reading a customs document a while ago that stated there was no noticeable decrease in laser/aircraft incidents before and after prohibition/restriction.

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Yeah, this govt issue was mentioned in March 2012 where the Hon Bob Debus made the following comments to 'The Australian' regarding the high level meeting :"This type of behaviour is stupid, dangerous and illegal, and could seriously endanger the lives of aircraft passengers...
just last year, fines of $30,000 and two-year jail terms were introduced for people who interfere with aircraft in this way. But if tougher penalties are needed, the Government is more than happy to consider them". More details are found in this Aussie govt doc : HERE

The Problem :
From late 2007, there was an increase in the number of incidents involving the misuse of laser pointers. In particular, laser pointers were being directed at aircraft and endangering the safety of the crew and passengers on commercial aircraft. In an attempt to reduce the incidents, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) amended the Civil Aviation Act to make it a specific offence to irresponsibly direct laser devices at aircraft, attracting penalties of 2 years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $5,500. Despite CASA implementing an offence to deter the community from shining laser pointers at planes, the incidents were continuing.

Air security incidents (Laser light events) :
2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11
648 370 596 828

Number of high intensity laser pointers imports detected at the border. Customs and Border Protection have detected 71,052 hand held high intensity laser pointers arriving between 1 July 2008 and 30 June 2011. The table below details the breakdown of laser pointers detected per month per financial year :

Customs Detections :
2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010-2011
N/A 12,457 22,051 36,544

These figures indicate Customs and Border Protection are detecting more laser pointers each year. Initially, most laser pointers were being imported through the international mail stream. However, there has been an increase in the number of detections of laser pointers at our airports, and it is currently the most common stream for importing laser pointers.

The Aussie customs doc illustrated this as a laser pointer :

remember reading a customs document a while ago that stated there was no noticeable decrease in laser/aircraft incidents before and after prohibition/restriction.

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It's quite complex in reality Oz, if reported incidents haven't gone down that doesn't mean a ban isn't working, what matters is wether they have increased by the same factor each doubling time.
Some hypothetical figures.

Year1:100 incidents
Year2:200 incidents
Year3:400 incidents
(Ban introduced)
Year4: 600 incidents

At first glance it looks like the ban didn't work as incidents increased but based on previous growth year 4 would have been 800 incidents instead it is 600 ergo the only factor that changed was the introduction of a ban. From that any political representative could decide the ban was effective (and on paper they would be correct). Now if the number of incidents had been 800 then 1600 then 3200 it would be arguable that banning was a pointless exercise.

Where it does go wrong is when education, responsible use and ownership are the changes that made the difference not the ban and yet the ban supporters would ignore than and simply confide their actions were what brought about the change.

If the growth factor ever changes by a negative value then any actions that caused that to happen can be seen as effective just not 100% effective(or you can bet it would be seen that way by those who supported the ban)

cheers

Dave