It’s nearly midnight. A cop is looking at a 17-year-old’s driver’s license. The kid was stopped for changing lanes erratically and driving too fast. The three passengers in the car are also teens.

While checking the driver’s license, the cop notices a red laser dot on his chest. Instantly, the officer’s training instinct takes over.

He draws his weapon, backs up, and orders everybody out of the car. At the same time he uses his walkie-talkie to call headquarters: "Officer needs assistance."

Why does he react that way? Because the red dot can easily be a laser sight attached to a firearm. It can mean he was a cop marked for execution.

As it turns out, the light’s source is a laser pointer in the hands of a 15-year-old in the back seat. At first, all the kids think this is almost as funny as a food fight in the school cafeteria. But they stop laughing when they are spread eagled on the side of the road.

Laser pointers used as "gags" are becoming epidemic. What most kids don’t know is that these "toys" mimic laser sights used on firearms. Cops have a right-a duty-to protect themselves from perceived threats.

So far no child has been shot because he pointed a laser at a cop. But given the dangerous potential, several states have already passed laws making it a felony to "laser" a law enforcement officer.

Lasering can, in some circumstances, be used as an argument for use of deadly force. Shoot-don’t-shoot decisions are usually made under the worst possible conditions. Sooner or later, somewhere, a kid will "laser" a cop as a "joke" and both the kid and the cop will pay a deadly price.