Exceptional stupidity

A top official in New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's (D) administration reportedly had audience members on edge when he used his handgun as a laser pointer during a presentation last year.

The Times Union reported that Jerome M. Hauer, commissioner of the New York State Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, alarmed a foreign delegation when he used the laser sighting device on the barrel of his handgun during an Oct. 24 presentation in Albany, N.Y. on the state's response to Superstorm Sandy.

Three Sweedish emergency managers "were rattled when the gun's laser tracked across one of their heads before Hauer found the map of New York, at which he wanted to point," according to the Times Union, and two people in attendance "moved quickly out of the line of the laser when he brought out the gun."

An aide to Cuomo promised to look into the matter, while a spokesman for Hauer has said only that he's "heard rumors" but is unaware of what exactly transpired at the presentation.