GatorFarmer
Member
Here's something fun, the FDA actually has control over certain types of "arms"
I didn't know it myself, but sure enough... In the United States, the FDA has regulatory authority over various and sundry lasers. Aside from the fact that one won't be able, at the present time, to ever obtain their own death ray, it also means that certain accessories such as an AN/PEQ-2 IR system can't be sold to a normal citizen (well, arguably normal...) that wants one. They get classified as a Class IIIb laser device and can only be sold to a governmental or LE agency. Not even individual military or LE can purchase one, sales have to be on agency letterhead. Only if someone were to get a lisc from the FDA - which is somewhat unlikely to be granted since circumstances of use are taken into account - could one even in theory purchase such a unit on the commercial market from an authorized source.
While the PEQ-2 itself isn't really much of a weapon (it could blind someone, and reportedly can cook an egg in the shell if you hold it on target long enough), it is a useful bit of gear if one has NVGs and wants to use it in conjunction. That most people don't isn't really the issue. How many people had ARs in the 70s? Very few. Same with red dot sights and lower powered visible laser sighting systems, once rare and expensive, they're now almost common. Computers meanwhile used to occupy entire rooms and be far "dumber" than a Blackberry. Thus an actual weaponized laser that would need a power source the size of a tractor trailer today may only need a power source the size of an AK mag (or smaller) in the future. Only problem is, it's already under the regulatory purview of a government agency, and most people don't even know it.
Therein lays the rub. Along the margins of useful gear, items that make certain weapons more useful as a weapon are slowly being restricted as is the potential for ever having available a newer weapon system. California already has a law on the books that prohibits private ownership of night vision scopes specifically configured for use on weapons. Michigan meanwhile wrote their anti stun gun/Taser law in such a way that any "energy weapon" would in fact be prohibited. Since most people don't try to buy these things, they never even realize it. That's the same principle that saw first "machine guns" restricted in '86 and later "assault weapons" begin to be restricted in '89.
And that's why I find my inability to actually buy a PEQ unit more than a minor aggravation, but potentially troubling in the longer term.
I didn't know it myself, but sure enough... In the United States, the FDA has regulatory authority over various and sundry lasers. Aside from the fact that one won't be able, at the present time, to ever obtain their own death ray, it also means that certain accessories such as an AN/PEQ-2 IR system can't be sold to a normal citizen (well, arguably normal...) that wants one. They get classified as a Class IIIb laser device and can only be sold to a governmental or LE agency. Not even individual military or LE can purchase one, sales have to be on agency letterhead. Only if someone were to get a lisc from the FDA - which is somewhat unlikely to be granted since circumstances of use are taken into account - could one even in theory purchase such a unit on the commercial market from an authorized source.
While the PEQ-2 itself isn't really much of a weapon (it could blind someone, and reportedly can cook an egg in the shell if you hold it on target long enough), it is a useful bit of gear if one has NVGs and wants to use it in conjunction. That most people don't isn't really the issue. How many people had ARs in the 70s? Very few. Same with red dot sights and lower powered visible laser sighting systems, once rare and expensive, they're now almost common. Computers meanwhile used to occupy entire rooms and be far "dumber" than a Blackberry. Thus an actual weaponized laser that would need a power source the size of a tractor trailer today may only need a power source the size of an AK mag (or smaller) in the future. Only problem is, it's already under the regulatory purview of a government agency, and most people don't even know it.
Therein lays the rub. Along the margins of useful gear, items that make certain weapons more useful as a weapon are slowly being restricted as is the potential for ever having available a newer weapon system. California already has a law on the books that prohibits private ownership of night vision scopes specifically configured for use on weapons. Michigan meanwhile wrote their anti stun gun/Taser law in such a way that any "energy weapon" would in fact be prohibited. Since most people don't try to buy these things, they never even realize it. That's the same principle that saw first "machine guns" restricted in '86 and later "assault weapons" begin to be restricted in '89.
And that's why I find my inability to actually buy a PEQ unit more than a minor aggravation, but potentially troubling in the longer term.
