We have to assume that when Jay resident Glenn Austin Bingham, 43, shinned laser toward a Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office cruiser that he thought it was a joke.
What Bingham found out the hard way was that it wasn't a joke and he is now facing felony charges.
We've all seen those lasers, you can buy one for a few bucks at many convenient stores. They can be used to make cute videos of cats trying to catch the light as you move it across the room only to move the light a little more. The cat gets confused when he finally jumps on the little dot and there's nothing there.
Folks, if you don't know it we are in a different era in this nation. When a cop sees a laser pointed at him his first instinct is to believe someone is pointing a gun with a laser scope in his direction.
We've read where other people have been arrested shinning lasers at airplanes as they pass overhead.
Those probably seemed like pranks at the time, but pranks can get out of hand and pranks can get people not only hurt but killed.
Things we may have done prior to the 9-11 terrorist attacks are not tolerated in today's society. We read monthly about mass shootings here and there and we read about cops being ambushed simply because they are cops.
They have a tough enough job dealing with their day-to-day activities as law enforcement officers without to have to make that split-second decision on whether or not that laser dot on their chest is coming from a gun or a toy. If they make the wrong decision they could either be killed or the person pointing the laser could be killed. Neither situation is good.
What was once a toy is not funny anymore. We hope people will read this and understand that pointing lasers at people can come with serious consequences and being arrested is the least of those consequences.
