Actually Sarah, when I'm doing pilot recruiting sims for my company, I use the laser pointer in my wireless mouse to point out things on the instruments if the candidate is having difficulty in a particular area.
That's a lot quicker and easier than trying to reach over the centre pedestal to point with a finger
However, I've never had the desire to shine it in the candidate's eye.
The legislation is typical political huffy puffy which is too little too late. I suspect there are literally thousands of these devices in public hands and this will do little to address the problem, considering the difficulty the authorities have had so far catching these idiots....