Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for a federal ban on the sale of green lasers...

Schumer: Ban high-powered green lasers - 13WHAM ABC Rochester NY - Top Stories

Albany, N.Y. (AP) -- Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for a federal ban on the sale of high-powered green laser pointers that have been used to injure and disorient airplane pilots around the country.

The New York Democrat says he wants federal regulators to stop the sale of the devices, which were linked to 17 incidents at JFK airport and another 37 at LaGuardia last year. A man was arrested last week for allegedly pointing a laser at two aircraft at LaGuardia.

The green laser pointers are apparently preferred by pranksters because the green light travels farther. They also are more likely to injure a pilot's eyes.

Schumer says the laser pointers can jeopardize an entire plane if they disorient a pilot during a take-off or landing.

Some people may disagree but I think he makes a valid point. I remember seeing a graph about laser attacks on aircraft and the # rose up year by year, which is unfortunate.

Unfortunately, you can try and ban all high powered lasers you want, which may help stop a few of them but you will always have some slip into the country and fall into wrong hands.

I do think this is a good first step into finding a permanent solution to this on-going problem. +rep for sharing, very interesting

-Alex

Anyone seriously wanting to harass an aircraft with a banned laser will find a way to get one into country, but this should slow down the number of fools, after a time, and that may be a very long time, there are just too many of them out there now.

I do wish they'd stick to the glare issue, the real problem, and stop pretending that the laser beam, from the ground to the cockpit, through the windscreen, is going to cause eye DAMAGE.

Its a red herring.

It DOES glare out the cockpit, and IS dangerous for that reason...but its not the same as a close range shot...there's too much beam spread by that point.

If they want to figure out the dose required to do damage, and the power (In a POINTER) needed to do that, and ban everything that powerful on up, fine...if they insist on eye damage as a criterion.

:tinfoil:

That is typical of government, when they want to make laws, control something or even start a war, they throw in some scary lies to get people all up in arms. We've seen it over and over again with our own government in the USA, albeit, perhaps in this case they just don't know better. Although, the glare hazard issue is enough on its own due to the fools out there who would aim a laser at an aircraft.

Hopefully, such a law won't affect us too much but laws can be slippery slopes, next it's another color etc.

Alaskan said:

That is typical of government, when they want to make laws, control something or even start a war, they throw in some scary lies to get people all up in arms. We've seen it over and over again with our own government in the USA, albeit, perhaps in this case they just don't know better. Although, the glare hazard issue is enough on its own due to the fools out there who would aim a laser at an aircraft.

Hopefully, such a law won't affect us too much but laws can be slippery slopes, next it's another color etc.

Click to expand...

LOL

Yeah, they will simply define "Green" as the color of light emitted by a laser...etc...or ban all pens that emit light.

:tinfoil:

idiot proof something and they'll just build a better idiot. better to punish those who break the existing laws. prohibition has a poor record of success, whether drugs, weapons, or whatever. I suspect those making new laws seldom check the track record of other such similar measures, their thinking is so reactionary:tired::horse:

As I said in a thread a couple years ago a couple times in every congressional session ole Chuckie gets a burr up his ass about something and vows legislation to 'fix' it and 99.99% of the time it never makes it out of sub-committee.

Aren't the sales of high power handhelds
inside the US already regulated?

I think we already have more than enough
duplicate laws on the books.

+6 for the OP as well as others adding to this-I will go now and link this thread to the established thread on this topic in the WELCOME section- while its great we have it here..... it really needs to be read and understood by EVERYONE except 'us'-- here 99 % of this is simply 'preaching to the chior'- i doubt, very many, who are REALLY members here do not know pretty much everything on this topic-

We must reach these potential offenders in other ways.. social media- word of mouth, peer pressure, even bumper stickers, etc would be time better spent.
.
And...as I have written many times... the 'profile' of the majority of the offenders is: white- male- late teens and early 20's in age.. pretty much the same profile as the majority of new members here- they need to be the target- and thru them we can reach thier peers- They are ignorant of the laws and consequences of all this--

ALSO, btw, if you are looking to place blame .. you need to look at WL for one - but dont waste any more time on that- what was done- seen and heard cannot be unseen unheard or un-done.

One IMO very important issue is sales of lasers member to a fellow member without ANY real background info- many have no clue as to the age and knowledge about these problems-- a new member can make a thread asking for a 11W laser and 'money is no object'

WTW??

I cant understand why so many wanted to help this fool get a laser like this-- and while asking if they have the proper eyeware is NOT a bad thing-- personally I care more about us and our 'involvement' with lasers than (illegal) sales than the safety of these people-
ATM do you need to be told that bows and arrows can be harmful (even deadly) if used improperly??-- I sure dont. and likewise, another law would never keep anyone really wanting either as they can find a way around all that.

To be effective, any pro-active action on this needs to be everywhere and NOT just at this forum. If a member has no 'skills' at finding out some things about a potential buyer they should not be selling any laser over 5 mW...at the LSO and laser safety classes we were told the the 'perfect' laser terrorist's weapon would be a powerful handheld on a tripod at the airport--

hk

Why can't the airline just put a safety windshield in place that effectively blocks the green light? It could work much like a visor in your car. You can flip it down on takeoff and landings. If this could be potentially hazardous to pilots then I think they should focus on protecting them. The problem is just like guns they can still be illegally purchased so the problem will still be there. I think also there should be an age requirement to purchase high power lasers. If you are caught with one underage than you will be prosecuted. It's always younger pranksters doing these things.

^^ good points BUT I dont think a visor is a good answer... but better than nothing.

The TSA/FBI/FDA/FAA/ Home Land Sec. need to get off thier asses and patrol the airports during peak nighttime hours and come down even harder on those caught--

for all the latest news and developments about this go to laserpointersafety.com
Patrick Murphy runs this site w/o much $$ help- He is with ILDA and what happens with pointers greatly has affected laser show operators. and that is a shame!!

i saw a post the other day about a Lockheed Martin plane with a laser built on the side panel of the plane. The windows looked as if they were tinted to protect the pilots from any exposure. I thought maybe they could possibly implement that in passenger aircraft as well. And i agree they should take more security measures. I travel all year for work and it does scare me that something like this could happen. Especially with all the attacks around the world that have been going on lately involving terrorists.

Remember, this is about cockpit glare, not melted eyeballs....and a retrofit of "laser shields" for the windshields is unlikely...unless there's something like an anti-glare film that could be applied, or glasses the pilots wore for ground proximity operation, etc.

Gotcha. I was thinking because of the beam going directly into the eyes of the pilot. Either way it's a scary thought for both the pilots and the passengers. I hope they find a solution.

CelticLaser1 said:

And i agree they should take more security measures. I travel all year for work and it does scare me that something like this could happen. Especially with all the attacks around the world that have been going on lately involving terrorists.

Click to expand...

Terrorists aren't going to bring down a jetliner with a laser, it's just not practical. I would think they have probably already tried it. What's terrifying is the destabilization of countries in the Mid East and the governments overthrown by radical Islamists. What about Libya, who is in control of their weapons now? The same goes for Yemen, and Islamic State has some advanced weapons they took from the Iraqis and Syrians. :wtf: We could end up with portable surface to air missiles and other things in the hands of terrorists.

Alan