Quote:
Originally Posted by Galactic G
The OP's linked article doesn't state that only green lasers will be banned. It appears that all high powered laser devices will be banned in NSW.
My experience in Victoria is even the Victoria Police Licencing Branch didn't know allot about what type of laser was legal or not. Nor did they know what a Newtonian Collimator was, or why some of them are classed as Prohibited Weapons. Once I explained to the officer what it was (including sending him pictures of one) he went away and phoned me back several hours latter after researching the legalities of my Collimator. During his return phone call he laughed and said "I can't believe this is a prohibited weapon, but it is, and you will have to apply for a licence for it."
In Victoria for the owner of a "high powered laser" having a licence for a prohibited weapon means that at any time a police member can knock on your door and ask to see your Prohibited Weapon and inspect how you store it. (ie in a locked safe container.) For the sellers of prohibited weapons it means that every sale of a prohibited weapon must be recorded in a special register noting the person who bought the device and their Approval to Possess a Prohibited Weapon Licence number. Therefore the costs of owning a Prohibited Weapon is more than just the application and licence fees. This will surely see the cost of these devices going up once this law is passed in NSW, and other states follow.
I believe that Laser Pointers should be regulated but putting them in the category of "Prohibited Weapons" is going too far. A valid reason for owning one, a licence test demonstrating that a licence holder knows how to safely use and store the laser would suffice is my opinion.
Licencing will help shape the attitudes of those people who posses and use such a device, and what is expected from them.
Unfortunately, what ever we do, we probably wont keep lasers out of the hand of idiots who want to point them at planes and cars with the intention of making them crash. Anyone advocating shinning a laser in someones eyes isn't the sort of person I would like see owning a laser, and only strengthens the argument that all these devices should be banned outright.  |
I must agree with alot of whats said above...
Putting a collimator in the same class as a flick knife or a crossbow or a sword is a really stupid move. I know which one I would rather have pointed at me....
Can see the news now....
Bank robbed by gang armed with collimators....
Also what do they mean by high power pointers? is a 5-10mw regarded as high or are they looking at <200mw?
Don`t the police have enough to do than worry about chasing astronomers down aligning there optics!
This is going to be totally ridiculous