I'm a fifth year senior at OSU, but live off campus now. I had to be really careful shining it out my windows from the top floor because I could reach the buildings downtown (about 3 miles) as well as all of the airplanes and helicopters flying overhead (though I didn't). I never had any trouble shooting the buildings and people below, but just made sure to shoot it around them and not actually on them. Just be careful, and don't shoot cops on bicycles (woops). Unless you get someone really strict (cops) most people just think they are really cool and won't care. I have had people come up to my room just to see what the heck that was...lol
Also, to get to you thing about shining in the night sky. We have a med center on campus and tons of helicopters always overhead. On top of that, the Columbus Int. Airport is only a few miles away and they are still really low when taking off and landing. I could easily hit them if I shined it in the night sky, and they are very frequent. If you have a similar situation, just be very very careful. One guy downtown is in jail for shooting one at the police helicopters out of his high-rise apartment (saw it in the papers).