I absolutely aware of the potential dangers, which is why I'm in the process of getting IR safety glasses. It's not a laser, but a normal IR LED.
It's similar to what you can see here: This product is no longer available.
So far this seems to be the simplest solution: "Use a MOSFET to switch it but drive the gate high/low with a second transistor".
Will this work?
Any more suggestions on how to make a simple prototype?