118 police officers have been permanently blinded to some degree by rioters using lasers. Who knows how many other people have suffered vision lost to various degrees not even knowing why or how? This silent weapon for which there is no defense can become the true weapon of the sadist and sociopath, plus a silent weapon of retaliation against anyone. It also can be a sick method to blind animals - both other people's pets and animals in nature - then the sadist enjoying the suffering of the birds, squirrels etc they have blinded. If you watch the protest/riot videos - at first there were no lasers and now you see dozens, most green lasers which are all more powerful than the little lasers people play with cats with. This method of attacking people is now out of the box and likely will become a very serious problem and common method of attack. Even a 15 year old can buy any power of laser. I have many lasers of various types - ranging from the tiny kind used to play with the cats to more powerful ones on handguns and rifles - all the way up to a couple of military grade that you can see in the brightest day light at over a mile - yet no larger than a small flashlight - that would instantly destroy anyone's eyes. One of my adult children in the military has mostly lost color vision due to reckless accidents with military lasers - and then merely by reflecting off other surfaces. Simply, it isn't just being blinded or not - but degrees of permanent vision lose of a laser light hits your eye(s). I would comply with any law that prohibited private ownership of lasers, though probably very weak ones could still be used for playing with cats and could still be used integrated into various types of equipment. Industrial and other laser usage would require licensing and permits. As a comment, this would effectively outlaw most lasers for firearms - other than possibly low power short range pistol lasers. In my opinion, any lasers otherwise should be outlawed and shine a laser at anyone - whether damage done or not - should be the same as shooting someone with a gun - and felony animal cruelty if used against animals - again other than maybe weak play-toy lasers. The law would define the maximum power and wave lengths of lasers individuals can purchase. There is no defense against being blinded by a laser, the damage can not be reversed, you may not even know it happened at the time, and almost no chance to even know who did it or proving it. Therefore, in my opinion anything but the weakest lasers and lasers inside equipment should be outlawed by federal and state laws. What say each of you?
If you fire a laser in to the eye of a police officer, the cop next to him/her should put a bullet right in your head. Period.
