Laser pointers are very good additions to your personal and professional life. After all, you can use them to add pizzazz to your marketing presentation, facilitate an educational slide show for students, accurately point out things and details at a far distance including the heavenly bodies, amuse your pets with the light, use it in paintball games as a gun sight, and light your way through the darkness.

Like all other good things, however, laser pointers can be dangerous. You put others at physical risks like blindness, burnt skin, and exposure to fire when these things are used inappropriately and improperly. These are not all, however, because you risk your freedom when you violate the following don'ts:

Do not point at helicopters and airplanes!

Oh, sure. Flying airplanes and helicopters are fair game because the pilots cannot land these transportation conveyances just anywhere to confront you about risking their lives for your fun and games. However, the Federal agents can!

Under anti-terrorism laws, you can get up to 25 years in prison when convicted of pointing laser pointers at aircrafts and vehicles. Blame 9/11 for the paranoid homeland security measures but, hey, anything that can keep passengers safe hundreds of miles up in the air should be fine! Want proof? In 2005, David Banach of New Jersey was arrested when he focused his laser pointer at a police helicopter and an airplane. His arrest was the first one made in a series of laser-pointing incidents, which goes to show that just because others can get away with it, so can you. Not!

Do not bring to New South Wales!

In the Land Down Under, specifically the state of New South Wales, high-powered laser pointers are placed on the list of banned weapons. You have to secure a permit to carry the thingamajigs lest you find yourself in the slammer for a grand total of 14 years, mate! Being in jail, no matter how clean the facilities and how polite the guards and the inmates are, is no laughing matter, as anybody can point out to you. And the wake-up call there is worse than the worst banshee-screaming travel alarm clocks you have! Just like in the good old US of A, the law came about due to the inappropriate use of the gadgets. In this case, the airplane pilots were temporarily blinded by the intense light, which could have disastrous consequences.

Do not use to zap opponents' eyes in games

Well, sure again. Using laser pointers to temporarily blind your opponents' eyes does not rank up there with Tonya Harding hiring Shane Stant to break Nancy Kerrigan's legs, but it's still cheating! Not to sound holier-than-thou but cheating is cheating no matter what methods you apply and what color you use to blind others. Case in point: In 2008, France's leading football club, Olympique Lyonnais, was fined by the Union of European Football Associations because one of its more ardent fans aimed a laser pointer at Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for the Manchester United. Why didn't the fan just throw his fountain pens with the sharp point out? Maybe, just maybe, Ronaldo would have misunderstood and signed an autograph and everybody would have been spared the trouble! So there, ladies and gentlemen, are the top three ways to protect your liberty and freedom. Use your laser pointers with care and you need not hire lawyers to bail you out, which would cause you yet another form of sacrifice in liberty and freedom. But that's another story.