Guns don't kill people, people do, with guns.

dam, im behind the times, i didnt think you could actually make a beam of light, thats wicked though, ill be sure to try and get one before theyre outlawed.

unfortunately most of these "children" playing with lasers are in their 20's and 30's. most actual children couldn't afford over $100 for a laser. add to that that many also are increasing the power on their lasers as well through simple "booster" plans found on the internet. last time i saw someone "playing" with a laser (red diode), was a DRIVER of a DUMP TRUCK traveling on a highway at highway speeds.

an outright ban is not the answer as it's easy enough to pull the laser diodes out of DVD, CD and even play station and x box drives. the electronics to "boost" them are cheap and can be bought at any radio shack store. perhaps they should try educating people and crack down on people using them to harm others would be a better answer.

Wicked lasers sells a 1 watt (1000 mw) blue laser that would light your bluejeans on fire from across the street, and only costs $299...

Since they have been for sale, I have never heard of one ever being used to harm anyone...

seems some people have notified the media to play up any story and hype this until they can get more legislation passed against these devices..

I actually had to laugh at an old episode of CSI Miami I saw a few days ago, where a guy who was really annoyed by the noise of planes brought one down with a green laser pointer. They actually state on the show that it's a green laser under 5mW, yet it physically burned the corneas of the pilot who was flying thousands of feet in the air. He actually had burns on the surface of his eye.

This must have been aired during all the paranoia about lasers, but it was complete garbage! Yes, laser pointers can distract pilots, but that's it. I have a green laboratory laser that is rated at something like 175mW, and I can just about feel it burn from a few feet away.

Most ordinary pointers are 1-2mW which can only cause damage to the eye if you stare into the beam. Even though you can now buy 1-2W lasers that can cut through materials, I don't think I've heard of any assaults with lasers for years when they first became available.

It was a fad toy to the fools that used them for no good. As someone has already said, banning them won't make them go away when anyone with a little technical skill can find a video on YouTube and make one from any of the lasers you would find in the home.

I have a friend who has a pilots license and is currently training to fly commercial aircraft. Lasers were mentioned in training, but they say you would have to have one mounted on a tripod and be able to point it perfectly at one window of a plane that is flying hundreds of miles an hour. Even then, it's so far away all it would do is make the cockpit glow a pleasant green!

If they are banned in the UK, it will just follow everything else that was banned for no good reason, because they listen to the media who ALWAYS get it right!

You can tune up even the cheapest pointer if you can remove the "guts" without tearing it apart. Most have a very small box with a slot (for eyeglass type screwdrivers) that will boost the laser enough to melt ice.
If you turn the screw too far it will fry the laser so only try it on the cheap ones.

The blue lazers previously mentioned are capable of combusting human flesh. If you ramped one of those up, you could cook a person or punch a hole right through them.

High powered lasers ARE dangerous and SHOULD HAVE NEVER been allowed to be in the hands of the public. My friend had a normal red laser beamed into her eye by some punks at the mall and we couldn't figure out who did it. Luckily the red one did no permanent damage. If I could have found out who those kids were I'd have seriously injured them, regardless of age or consequences.

If the punks can use high-powered ones, they can blind people and can easily get away with it. Unlike other weapons, there is very little tell-tale evidence that they are being used. Should people have the right to blind you in one eye and never get caught?

Considering children (and some immature adults) also point them at Commercial jets, private planes, private / commercial helicopter pilots, Yeah, they are dangerious.