LIA Press Release

FYI, I just received an email from the LIA with this press release:

The Unrecognized Dangers of New Laser Pointers « LIA News

Actually one of the most sensible articles I read in a while. I especially like:

There is an active debate about what should be done. Is the solution education, regulation or prohibition for this type of hand-held laser device?

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Unfortunately the typical response as we've seen by some places (Ocean City, NJ) is to prohibit lasers outright

InfinitusEquitas said:

Actually one of the most sensible articles I read in a while. I especially like:



Unfortunately the typical response as we've seen by some places (Ocean City, NJ) is to prohibit lasers outright

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Agreed. I wonder how we can get involved in that "active debate"?

^^^Good question. Personally I'm definitely in favor of some sort of regulation as it would also provide us with some protection from overzealous cops.

Maybe we could arrange a kind of license for proper laser users.


that would be cool.

greetz mark

MarkmeijerNL said:

Maybe we could arrange a kind of license for proper laser users.


that would be cool.

greetz mark

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I would personally prefer education before regulation if possible. How many sellers supply any kind of safety information with their products?

Garoq said:

I would personally prefer education before regulation if possible. How many sellers supply any kind of safety information with their products?

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Education without regulation/enforcement would be useless IMO, and let's face it, how many of us actually read instruction manuals before using the vast majority of things we buy.

^Yea thats true.


all sellers go to laser selling scool =]
would that be possible?

what if FDA or some other federal institution changes the rules for sellers and not for the buyers?

poeple always saids it is the fault of the user ofcourse ``with great power comes great responsbility`

but what if it is harder to get for non responseable poeple?

i geuss that u need a kind of license by then.

MarkmeijerNL said:

^Yea thats true.


all sellers go to laser selling scool =]
would that be possible?

what if FDA or some other federal institution changes the rules for sellers and not for the buyers?

poeple always saids it is the fault of the user ofcourse ``with great power comes great responsbility`

but what if it is harder to get for non responseable poeple?

i geuss that u need a kind of license by then.

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I meant education of consumers by sellers.

Self-regulation is always preferable to having it imposed on you against your will.

In rocketry we have safety codes that were drafted by the user groups and then incorporated into private and state laws and regulations.

Even though counter-intuitive, hobby rocketry is now one of the safest hobbies out there, safer than most organized sports. But in the '50's before the industry got involved, it was one of the most dangerous.

Garoq said:

Agreed. I wonder how we can get involved in that "active debate"?

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First, from the viewpoint of a seller, write the LIA with your views. They will of course say " ... well ... you sell these things for a profit ... "; but to me, the LIA seems like they might be influential on this issue, and they need to be contacted. Be forthright, honest, propose workable solutions, don't be confrontational.

From the rest of us; same thing.

I can *see their viewpoint* (the LIA); and similar views by other groups. They probably EXPECT laser hobbyists and venders to be confrontational. They might be suprised if we work WITH them.

The hardest questions to answer is who SHOULD be allowed to own hobby lasers? And who SHOULDN'T? How will this be managed?