Aim at cats, not airplanes. (Via Shutterstock)

Laser pointers are good for many things: giving presentations, making your pets hilariously run after a moving spot of light that they’ll never catch, and so on. They shouldn’t be used to blind pilots, a point that Maryland legislators seem to want to stress with new legislation that will increase the penalties for doing so, reports WTOP:

Right before one of the busiest travel days of the year, Arora and Sen. J.B. Jennings, a Republican state senator representing Harford and Baltimore counties, are focusing on the threat to aircraft from laser pointers.

The two men will ask the Maryland General Assembly to raise the maximum penalty to three years in prison and a $2,500 fine for those convicted of shining laser pointers at aircraft. Current law allows for a $500 fine.

Arora says there were 63 such incidents in Maryland last year, including the temporary blinding of a Southwest Airlines pilot while he was landing his 737 jet with more than 130 people aboard at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport in February.

Earlier this year, the FBI created a task force to deal with the problem of laser pointers being used to blind pilots; some 3,700 such incidents are expected this year, up from 285 in 2005. And if Maryland’s fines are enough of a deterrent for you, consider this: one federal statute makes aiming lasers at planes punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of as much as $11,000. Ever harsher, interference with the operation of an aircraft can be dealt with by up to 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine.

As we’ve done before, here’s an instructional video on the proper use of a laser pointer. Yeah, just try to catch the laser, you silly little cats.