fta: Federal criminal charges were brought against both of them in March 2013, with a three-day trial concluding in December 2013. Despite his lawyer's best efforts, in March 2014, Rodriguez was sentenced to 14 years in prison.
wow !
wow !
Should we ban laser pointer? No, because that's stupid.
Should we make sure people understand tools and how to use them? YES.
Yes, it can blind you, the user, but it can not blind a pilot. Any consumer laser will have too high a divergence to create dangerous power densities at any significant range.
>and can distract you while you are operating a motor vehicle
Sure it can. But so can cell phones, shaving, eating, jaywalking... People aren't getting 14 years for those.
Would you shove a phone in front of someone who is driving, to make them read a text? (I am obviously exaggerating, but you get the idea).
If that was a jury, then its very easy to imagine how frightened they were thinking if "out of fun" the laser would hit a plane they've boarded and lead to a crash and death of hundreds of people.
Don't screw with kids on transplant lists while shooting a laser at helicopters. Oh, you can't know that there was a child on board? Well, how about we just don't shoot at any air traffic?
I've been lased in my light airplane. It's only been annoying to date, but in just the perfect circumstances, it could be quite dangerous.