"I didn't go out to point at the helicopter - I just bought a l@ser pointer off a bloke in the street and I was just seeing what it could do - when you get a l@ser pointer you flash it about.
"If I go to prison it would be a nightmare, I'm normally a responsible person and I'm sorry for what I've done. I feel sort of daft about it."
Why not take him at his word for a moment?
Many people see these things being used all the time. Not just as pointers in a lecture hall, but as a l@ser show during a local pop concert, etc. etc.
So how many think they're just "cool" and are totally unaware they're actually fukcing dangerous?
"...when you get a l@ser pointer you flash it about."
I don't have a l@ser pointer, just one of those big torches/flashlights with four D-size batteries (why? all sorts of things, like ten minutes ago I went to check the garden watering pump, which has been acting up - for that sort of thing a penlight torch is perfectly useless).
And sure, I've been shining it down the road to see how far it was visible, and up into the sky when it's humid, to watch the beam.
So, I can understand people who "just flash it about to see what it can do".
Now what?
Would a lot of high-level media publicity about the dangers make 95% of them aware of the risks, and be a lot more careful with their "toys", or would it just encourage a fresh bunch of chavs to buy one and "have a go"?
I honestly don't know.
CJ