537.21 POSSESSION/USE OF LASER POINTING DEVICES.

   (a)   Definitions. For purposes of this section:

      (1)   "Laser pointer" means any device that emits light amplified by the stimulated emission of radiation that is visible to the human eye.

      (2)   "Person" means any natural person, corporation, partnership, firm, organization, or other legal entity.

      (3)   "Public place" means a place to which the public or a substantial group of persons has access, and includes, but is not limited to, any street, highway, parking lot, plaza, transportation facility, place of amusement, house or hotel not constituting a room or apartment designed for actual residence.

      (4)   "School premises" means the buildings, grounds or facilities, or any portion thereof, owned, occupied by, or under the custody or control of public or private institution to students, and any vehicles owned, operated, or leased by or on behalf of such institutions that are used to transport such students or the personnel of such institutions.

   (b)   It shall be unlawful for any person to give, sell or offer to sell or cause any person to give, sell or offer to sell a laser pointer to any individual eighteen years of age or younger.

   (c)   It shall be unlawful for any person under the age of eighteen years to possess a laser pointer device. A person shall not be in violation of this section if his or her possession of a laser pointing device is necessary for his or her employment, trade or occupation and it is necessary for the pointer to be carried on his or her person. Nothing in this section shall preclude:

      (1)   The temporary transfer on school premises of a laser pointer to or possession on school premises of a laser pointer by a person eighteen years of age or younger for a valid instructional, school-related or employment purpose, where such laser pointer is used under the supervision of a school staff person, other authorized instructor, employer or employer’s agent; or

      (2)   The temporary transfer in a public place of a laser pointer to or possession in a public place of a laser pointer by a person eighteen years of age or younger, during such person’s hours of employment, for a valid employment purpose, where such laser pointer is used under the supervision of the employer or employer’s agent; or

      (3)   The direction of light from a laser pointer into or through a public place by a person eighteen years of age or older, during such person’s hours of employment, for a valid employment purpose.

   (d)   It shall be unlawful for any person to focus, point or shine a laser beam directly or indirectly on another person or animal in such a manner as to harass, annoy, or injure said person or animal.

   (e)   No person who sells or offers for sale laser pointers shall place such laser pointers on open display so that such laser pointers are accessible to the public without the assistance of such seller, or his or her employee or other agent, offering such laser pointers for sale, unless:

      (1)   Such laser pointers on open display are clearly and fully visible from a place of payment for goods and services or customer information at which such seller or an employee or other agent of such seller is usually present during hours when the public is invited.

      (2)   Such laser pointers are in a package, box, or other container provided by the manufacturer, importer, or packager that is larger than forty-one square inches.

   Further, it shall be unlawful to display laser pointers in any manner or to post a sign advertising the availability of laser pointers unless notice has been posted in a conspicuous location indicating that the sale or giving of laser pointers to persons eighteen years of age or younger is a misdemeanor.

   (f)   When a person is found to possess a laser pointer while in a public place or on school premises in violation of subsection (d) hereof, it is an affirmative defense that:

      (1)   Such person was traveling to or from school premises, where the laser pointer would have been or was used for a valid institutional, school- related, or employment purpose under the supervision of a school staff person, other authorized instructor, employer, or employer’s agent and such person had not turned on the laser pointer or displayed it in a menacing or threatening manner; or

      (2)   Such person was traveling to or from his or her place of employment where the laser pointer would have been or was used during such person’s hours of employment, for a valid employment purpose, under the supervision of the employer or employer’s agent, and such person had not turned on the laser pointer or displayed in it a menacing or threatening manner.

   (g)   Whoever violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor of the third degree, except that if the person the laser beam was focused, shined, or pointed on was at the time a uniformed police officer, uniformed security guard, uniformed school safety officer, uniformed traffic enforcement agent, uniformed emergency medical service worker, or uniformed ambulance worker, or other uniformed Village, state or federal peace officer, investigator, or emergency service worker, or the marked service vehicle of any such individual, the violator is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree.

(Ord. 99-20. Passed 8-16-99.)