Originally Posted by 911slf
Perhaps it is desirable that anyone wanting a l@ser above 1 milliwatt - the usual limit in lecture theatres, should need a licence to buy one. Not by any means a complete answer but would help.
Just about every home has powerful lasers in it … in CD and DVD players. This is even more true for homes with CD or DVD burners in computers. Both types of lasers are powerful enough to be dangerous to the eyes, and both can be removed and modified into lasers that can be aimed at people and aircraft, unfortunately. A licensing scheme would do nothing to address this problem, although it might serve as a slight deterrent to casual users.