There's been a few recent incidents where people have had their lasers confiscated, so I thought I'd ask this:
If someone tries to take your laser, would you comply? If so, at what point would you hand it over?
Only to a law enforcement officer. whether it be local state or federal doesn't matter. If they want it give it to them, and then contact their supervisor.
I always use lasers in a safe and responsible manner, so it's not too likely that someone would try to take my laser (someone did try once, though). That having been said, whether I would comply would depend on who the person is. If they are just a security guard, then I would not hand it over. Unless said guard is an off-duty police officer, they have no more legal powers than an ordinary citizen. For example, if I am at a venue and security says I am causing trouble, I would opt to leave. But if they try to take my laser by force, then I will respond with force.This would only reinforce their accusations that you were causing trouble. I would personally call the police if they tried to take it and press charges. Robbery is very serious.
With the police, it's different. Without a warrant, police can only seize items if they have probable cause or reasonable suspicion ("in plain view"). The problem is, what constitutes "probable cause" or "reasonable suspicion" is open to interpretation. If police try to take my laser, I would ask them to explicitly state that they have probable cause/reasonable suspicion before handing it over, otherwise they would be lying under oath. Of course if they threaten me with arrest, then I would hand it over (after making sure that they are actually police, of course), no questions asked. After all, I would not want to mess with someone who has a badge and a gun. (True, police cannot legally shoot unless they are in fear for their lives, but who knows if some dumb cop might mistake a laser for a "deadly weapon"?) Plus, going to jail, even for a single night, would probably be a lot more unpleasant than losing an expensive laser, not to mention that I'll probably lose it anyway.
These incidents shouldn't happen in the first place. It's people being irresponsible in the first place that attract the attention and causes this problem to happen. You don't need your 1W laser at a concert. This scenario should never happen anyways as you should just comply (within reason)
In any case, I would do at least the following three things:
1. Remove the safety key, if it has one
2. Tell them not to point it at other people (this probably won't be necessary if the laser uses a key)
Chances are if you got it taken away your in no position to offer safety advice
3. Ask to turn it over at the police station, if allowed (this makes it much harder for the officer to pocket it)
No way this is ever going to be allowed. Hand it over or get maced in the face. rightfully so too. I hate it when people try to argue with law enforcement. I say taze em already!
Anyways, if someone tries to take your laser, would you hand it over, and if so, when?
