A couple years ago, there was a USMC Ssgt selling a brand-new, IZLID 1000P Ultra on eBay. When investigated by the DHS ICE, he used the defense that it had been written off as a combat loss. That didn't fly. The device showed up in the mfg. records as shipping to the military, and was confiscated. The LE task force then divided the investigation into two threads. One thread traced the military supply chain, while another combed the Ssgt's e-mail, Paypal, and other electronic records to find who he had acquired it from, and then repeated that process of "peeling back the onion" with each prior "owner / seller".
Writing off equipment that is not truly lost / damaged / destroyed / captured as a "combat loss" is viewed by criminal investigative entities as a form of theft and fraud. The law is clear: once the military entity receiving the FDA excepted laser optic no longer has a need for the device, it must either be returned to the manufacturer or destroyed. This year, there was a successful criminal conviction of a U.S. person (not citizen) who was working a racket to acquire military laser gear, written off as "combat losses", from U.S. military overseas, and then to import the stuff back into the U.S., for commercial sale, with new labels suggesting that they were aftermarket clones (e.g. Made in China, Etc.).
When the mfg. records show disposition to the military and the device does not show in military inventory, investigators look for two things -- illicit diversion from inventory via mis-use of administrative procedure, and failure to enter the device into inventory via failure to implement administrative requirements. Then, there's the abuses where someone with procurement authority misuses their government position to order the restricted devices, and then uses one of the two methods described to "divert" the items from government accountability. There's a major prosecution in process, right now, pertaining to this.
For the little guy -- the civilian hobbyist who finds and buys a <b>contraband</b> IZLID via on-line auction -- federal LE will usually accept the voluntary surrender of the device and any associated info about how it was acquired from whom in lieu of pursuing prosecution. Their goal is to hunt down the bigger fish involved in the illicit diversion and fencing of these things as a business enterprise.
Not long ago, there was a hobbyist who approached DHS ICE agents with the fact that he had a restricted military laser, and challenged them to research the serial number and to try to force him to surrender it. All the drama was documented publicly, up to the meeting the fellow had with the DHS ICE agents and with his attorney present. This person ended up voluntarily surrendering the device and with the observation, said in a very small voice, that the agents he "met" with "really knew their stuff".
What one does regarding this IZLID is up to that individual to decide. It is not illegal for a U.S. citizen to possess a high-output laser that isn't stolen or illegally diverted from Military / LE.
As for the usefulness of the IZLID 200Ps, their application is to designate targets for Close Air Support, or as aiming and illumination devices for crew-served weapons, such as the Ma Deuce, which has effective range on their ordnance out to a couple kilometers or more. Though a bit much for most small-arms applications, another thing to consider is that in their standard configuration, the IZLIDs do not have on-board or remote cable switching that permits a persistent beam ... meaning, the output occurs only while there is manual pressure on the activation switch. In this way, they are more intended as pointer and signalling devices for ground commanders and attack controllers than as weapons aimer / illuminator.
IR-V
