If some of these lasers can cause permanent eye damage than I rather put the regulation under weapons law for those and forbid to sell or make yourself, then most people won't even know about it and are not encouraged to try it (for fun)...
They have been regulated for decades. You need a license to import, possess and operate any laser over 100mw as I recall. The forum on the above sites lists complaints from customers that customs is rejecting these in the US. The biggest problem is the DIY arena. I'm sure many sifi fans will try the mod for they toy shown above just because its cool with no knowledge or care of the the risks. Unfortunately I didn't see in the reports anyone being prosecuted for the unlicensed possession/operation. Here in my town they have arrested two in the last year that I have heard of.
All of us here have a computer with a DVD burner in it. And in every one of these is a laser in the range of 500 to 1000mw. The other night I took an old one and followed the instruction on the site to see just how hard it is to build a laser flashlight. The answer is very easy. Even if you buy all the stuff, $20 for cheap DVD drive and $9 for the miniMag flashlight, you only need a screw driver, a soldering iron, a sharp knife and about 45 minutes to get it all done. For me the cost is was $0 as I have a bunch of old drives and several miniMags hanging around. We tested the thing at a cow field at night and we could hit a target at over two miles.
I agree education is needed but like most things unless there is some crash or near crash that's laser involved don't expect to see much. Probably the most promising avenue is as "child safety". But that too will need to be connected with some number of children getting hurt.