Error in the text: 1000mW laser with 532nm wavelength which is green light.
1000nm light is infrared.
Cross posted in https://lemmy.ca/post/64612634
Error in the text: 1000mW laser with 532nm wavelength which is green light.
1000nm light is infrared.
Cross posted in https://lemmy.ca/post/64612634
I assume it’s mostly Americans affected by this so, genuine question. Why buy a laser when one of your regular guns will do a better job, with the same legal ramifications?
Lasering a camera absolutely does not have the same legal ramifications as shooting a gun in public, to say nothing of the safety concerns that come with shooting bullets into the air.
While I 100% agree, shooting a laser powerful enough to burn camera sensors sounds like something dangerous enough that I’d be worried of a reflection blinding someone
High-power lasers are dangerous and you certainly should not operate them if you don’t know what you’re doing, but they are not in the same ballpark as bullets from guns. And if we’re talking strictly about legal jeopardy, IDK I’m not a lawyer but I imagine a prosecutor would have a hard time convincing a jury that a laser is as dangerous as a gun. Not saying it couldn’t happen, but if I had to go to trial with one or the other I know what my preference would be.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I’d like to present you with evidence of why a laser is, in fact, more dangerous than a gun. Please turn your attention to the screen:”
A laser won’t kill me if it hits my stomach. A bullet very much might.
On the other hand, a bullet won’t blind a dozen people if it hits a reflective surface. A laser might.
OK, I hear you. How bout baseball bats? They’re something every American has.
My point is that they don’t look too hard to destroy. Why fuck about with lasers?
They’re usually high up enough that baseball bats would be tough, but they’re an option for some situations. Lasers are nice because they’re inexpensive(ish) and can be operated from a vehicle, e.g. just roll up on a bike, blast the sensor, and scram. There are other options, but if you have a high-power laser already and want to strike a blow for freedom, this is one way to do it.
Generally they’re mounted high enough you can’t hit them with a stick (totally sincere here: I am so curious where the idea that every american has a baseball bat came from. We don’t, that’s like assuming every canadian has a hockey stick). The best method of physically damaging them is just to loop a chain around them and pull them down then hit them with your standard-issue Size 2 Louisville Slugger. But that takes time and several people, so for a quick & clean takedown laser pointers are fairly effective.
Idk, if your laser misses and hits an aircraft you’re in for a much worse time than simply firing a gun in public (as long as your bullet doesn’t hit someone)
That may be the stupidest justification for shooting a gun in the air that I’ve ever heard, and I have heard some doozies. The odds that you’ll accidentally intersect an aircraft are astronomically low, and even if you do, it’ll only be for a fraction of a second at most unless you are intentionally tracking the aircraft. To compare that to the danger of firing bullets in the air is absurd. If your best plan for disabling flock cameras is to shoot them with guns, please redirect your activism elsewhere because that is dangerously irresponsible.
Whoa there, chill out. I’m not trying to justify anything and I didn’t say anything about shooting a gun into the air at an airplane.
My point was that hitting aircraft with a laser is pretty much a fuck you in the ass federal offense, whereas firing a gun in public, into the ground for example, will most likely only be a local or state level charge, if anything at all, especially if there’s no injuries or proved intent of harm.
Also, IANAL.
Pointing laser pointers at planes is a federal crime because air traffic is federally regulated. Reckless discharge (steady lads) in a high traffic area, which is where flock cameras are located, falls under state jurisdiction because those laws are state regulated.
The jurisdiction in which a crime is committed does not dictate the severity of the punishment - while lasering a plane generally carries a severe punishment, it’s unlikely it would even be noticed by the crew unless you’re specifically targeting that plane. It’s certainly going to carry a lower sentence than reckless discharge (steady) in a populated area during the commission of a crime.
I am chill, but I have no interest in mincing words: what you said was very stupid and can (and does) get people killed. Don’t shoot guns in the air. If that’s the only plan you can think of, do nothing until you think of a better plan.
👍
What?! Lol. No man. Just no
Because not only are guns expensive and quite difficult to learn to shoot accurately, shooting at things in crowded areas is likely going to kill someone? And is much more illegal than using a laser pointer for vandalism, even if you don’t hit someone?
Guns are loud and draw attention. Also, in addition to Flock cameras, Flock also installs gunshot detectors all over the place that detect and triangulate gunshots.
Sound.
OK, but, to shoot a handheld laser at a camera and hit the CCD, you have to be in it’s field of view. You could shoot it with a gun outside of it’s field of view. So, is it a greater risk to make a noise, and not be capture on CCTV, or be silent in full view of a law enforcement camera? All things to bear in mind when you’re figuring out the best ways to destroy these things.
This seems
almost dishonestreal unfamiliar with the subject in how it’s presented. The immediacy of the attention you get is really important: A gunshot can be heard for over a kilometer in any direction, even through walls. A laser pointer is both much less noticible and much less dangerous to bystanders.edit: wow, I phrased that like an asshole, sorry.
You’d be better off calling in a drone strike. Capable of hitting the target from beyond visual range (over the horizon) with a low risk of missing due to the explosive payload, and zero chance of being heard or seen by any camera in the area.
Sarcasm aside, a gun is loud enough to cause permanent hearing damage to those around you, and the bullet will over penetrate the camera, continue to fly, and possibly hit someone downrange of the camera. Especially since cameras like that are obviously located in high traffic areas with a large number of people passing through. So under ideal conditions where you hit your target, odds are good that you will also hit a person. And in the event that you miss? Well, you most likely just shot someone. Isaac Newton is the meanest son of a bitch in space for a reason and 9mm is the preferred pistol round for the police and military because its generally larger size and smaller powder charge compared to other rounds means that it has a lower velocity and is therefore less likely to pass through a target and the wall behind them and hit somebody in an adjacent room.
Yeah well the otherwise very pro 2nd amendment rural locality of my childhood had a law on the books saying the sheriff could refuse to issue a gun license without stating their reason. I was told by a libertarian relative that the subtext there was that it was a law that had managed to slip by the civil rights movement by not explicitly specifying race. The second amendment, like many things in this country, is not actually executed equally.
It’s one of those things where I definitely think libertarians are missing the whole picture but also that relative “shot themselves in the head” during the tea party / occupy wall street movement. Now they were a veteran with a TBI and a lot of undiagnosed emotional problems, so I’ll at least give it a coinflip that they really did shoot themselves. I also hadn’t spoken with them for a few months leading up to that so 🫴🪙
Because it sounds cool, and people who don’t know any better imagine that you’ll instantly be able to invisible fry the thing rather than having to stand there with a bright green beam illuminating the thing so brightly you can’t look directly at it until it starts smoking, and meanwhile the reflections have blinded everyone in the street almost instantly.