I figure much of the blame here should fall with our irresponsible media. If they would stop sensationalizing this crap, feeble minded morons like this guy would never figure out how much trouble they could cause with a laser.
Good point. This could be the leading edge of an interesting phenomenon, wherein advanced techology -- which could be easily misused -- becomes available to the masses at affordable prices, thereby increasing the chance of misuse.
Most folks probaby have absolutely no idea how lasers operate, and that aiming one at an aircfaft could be harmul to pilots or passengers. Although these same folks would certainly realize that firing a high-powered rifle at an aircraft during final approach would be potentially harmful and definitely illegal, they would probably consider aiming a laser (a pretty green light) as equivalent to shining an incandescent flashlight into the night's sky, for the interesting aesthethetic effect.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.