Some seemingly harmless fun is actually quite dangerous.

The shining of laser pointers, especially at night, can cause a serious issue for pilots and planes.

On July 3rd a new law was passed in Ottawa. Laser pointers over 1 milliwatt of power have now been banned from within 10 km of all airports in Canada.

Officer Commanding Operational Support Squadron at 15 Wing, Kevin Tipper, talked about why it can be such an issue.

"I just want to put it into context to indicate how important this is. The pointers themselves are so easy to acquire - they are so cheap [that] this is a serious issue that sometimes is not taken as serious as we would like it to, and it is something that does bother us, that's for sure."

When the lasers are pointed at the cockpit of an aircraft, it can cause some major damage says Tipper.

"Depending upon the strength of the actual laser it varies; [the incidents] generally occur during the night. the blinding of the pilot temporarily or doing damage to the eyes is really the critical issue. Our aircraft [has been impacted] on a variety of occasions over the past five or so years. I believe there has been three incidents."

There is information available as to where the pointers are banned, but it may not be totally correct according to Tipper.

"When I looked at the website to do a bit of research on the latest piece, there is a map and it does not currently show Moose Jaw. But Transport Canada honours our airfield status as the ruling so my suspicion is yes, but we will look for more clarity on that."

Those caught with a pointer could face some hefty fines ranging from $5,000-$25,000.

Last year alone there were 379 incidents in Canada.