[Ol' Dan Tucker]

Those lights are not all that bright. There is still stuff going on in the cockpit to distract him even if his hands are not on the controls.

They're bright enough to read maps.

There's also another guy to handle the airplane while he's fooling around with his pistol.

In the cockpit of an aircraft there is no safe direction.

Sure there is. You can always point it to the side of the airplane, under the side cockpit windows. There's no vital electronics or cables. One little hole won't cause the airplane to crash or depressurize.

[TalonDJ]

To be considered a ‘safe direction’ it can’t be one square foot.